Silvers Kiss
by Silver Sneasel
Summary: Silver had planned on traveling through Hoenn ALONE, but this annoying girl just WOULDN'T STOP FOLLOWING HIM. Keri is undercover for Team Rocket, but the longer she stays with him, the less sure she is about her mission. SilverxOC
1. Chapter 1

Okay. This is rated T right now, it's a _high_ T if you're under Fourteen I wouldn't recommend you read it. I will probably change the rating to M after the third or fourth chapter depending on how this goes. Silver will probably be a little OOC, but it's hard to get him right sometimes.

CHAPTER ONE

"Silver." The trainer growled in the back of her throat, slowly twining her hands into his hair, she could smell him… their lips slowly moving together… his arms around her… he slowly kissed her… her mouth… neck… his lips slowly making their way onto her chest…

"Ahh!" Keri shot up panting, eyes darting around the room. She groaned and fell back into her bed. Silver. She sighed, taking a couple deep breaths, and pulled herself out of bed. She had to get up in five minutes anyway, damn that boy got up early.

She stretched out all of her muscles, and pulled off her pajamas, stuffing them in the backpack. She would have to do some laundry in the next town. Team Rocket had given her the job of tailing the boy, but now she wasn't so sure that she should be, she'd been having dreams like that for a week now, and they were steadily getting worse… and better. She stepped into the bathroom and turned on the shower. The Pokemon centers hotel was nice, and she was glad it was free. She wouldn't have any money left if they weren't.

She stepped into the shower, the hot steaming water running in rivulets down her body. She stood there, eyes shut, for five minutes, letting the water relax her muscles. She put the dreams down to stress. She was eighteen years old and hadn't been in a steady relationship since she was fifteen. It had ended badly, the boy badly bruised in places he wouldn't talk about, and she angry enough to send her Scyther out at the half naked boy. Guess which half was naked. Now she was traveling with a boy, and he was completely ignoring her, or at least as much as possible. She wasn't the type to gain a boys attention through extreme measures, but she wasn't supposed to be thinking about him like that. She was tracking him, checking his weak points, not trying to date him.

She rinsed the shampoo out of her hair and washed her body, thoroughly calmed by the lavender body soap. The scent wasn't her favorite, she hadn't ever been a flower person, but she'd started using it after meeting the boy. Lavender, calming.

He was nineteen and slightly pale, although it's hard to be pale in Hoenn, with red hair and his eyes… she had almost laughed when seeing his eyes. They were silver. She wore the scent not only because she found her mind needing to be calmed, but because Silver was constantly uptight and angry. She stepped out of the shower and yawned. She thought she could go back to bed now, her eyes getting heavy with the scent of the flower and the heat of the air. She shook it off and toweled her hair.

She dressed quickly in jeans, a yellow shirt, and a dark green jacket, she pulled her hair back in a pony tail. Keri didn't bother with makeup, the boy practically ran everywhere. She would just sweat it all off before noon anyway.

Silver leaned against the wall, staring up at the ceiling. He gave the girl until four fifteen, then he left without her. But she was never late. It was almost three thirty now. He turned his head, looking at the door. He heard his name called out, and it made him jump. He almost decoded to open the door when he heard a short shout, but then leaned against the wall again, a smirk on his face. A few minutes later he heard the water in he bathroom turn on.

'That's the problem with these hotels,' he thought. 'No sound blockage.' He had been able to hear the couple in the room above his all night. They were having a very good time, from what he had heard through his pillow. _He_ had _not_ had a good time. If they were going to do that kind of thing why couldn't they do it outside in a tent somewhere that no one went?

Like an island, out in the middle of the ocean. He thought about that for a little while. That would actually be nice. No one to bug him and tell him what he was doing wrong. Upon first meeting the red headed nineteen year old, many people thought he didn't care about his Pokemon. It wasn't true…

Okay, maybe at first it had been, but he had changed. At least he thought he had. He really did care about Feraligatr, and Crobat. He hadn't captured any Pokemon in this region yet, but he would. Just because he was hard on his Pokemon didn't mean that he didn't care about them. He acted cold because he wanted them to be stronger, to learn how to do things on their own. He wasn't a baby sitter, he was a trainer.

It was three O'clock when she opened the door, to see Silver leaning against the wall with his eyes shut. "Come on then. I'm catching something today, then we're going to Mauville." He walked off, she had to jog to keep up. He had seen the girl, sandy brown hair, darkly tanned skin from the Hoenn heat. Eyes that seemed to be a dark shade of purple, almost a dark blue just barely tinted with the color. She wasn't really fat or skinny, around average. Her teeth were mostly straight except some of the bottom ones overlapped slightly. She had a scar on her left arm, looked like she'd gotten a tattoo removed.

Silver didn't want to travel with anyone else, naturally he was a loner, but he had been unable to shake the girl. He had noticed her following him about a month ago, and had been unable to shake her no matter what he did, so he challenged her to a battle. Her Scyther had been easy enough to take out, but she still continued to follow after him, until she'd fallen out of a tree two weeks earlier. And while he didn't like people, especially obnoxious people who followed him no matter where he went, he couldn't just leave the unconscious brunet laying on the ground. He'd had Feraligatr carry her to the hospital while he hid on the woods and waited for it to come back, and the girl had come out a few hours later somehow miraculously staying at the exact same Pokécenter as him.

He'd finally just yelled at the girl two weeks ago, and she'd told him that she wasn't going to stop following him, so he may as well let her travel with him. He'd surprised himself by screaming at her "FINE! JUST STAY OUT OF MY WAY."

He'd thought about going to the police, telling them that she wouldn't leave him alone, but he'd decided that that would just be weak. If he couldn't deal with a stupid girl then he didn't deserve to be a trainer. She would get sick of him and leave eventually though.

It was still dark outside, and he decided to run just to annoy her. The exit was at the north end of Rustboro, just to the east. The buildings just flashed by, cold morning air slowly working its way to his skin. The morning dew on the road no problem for his black boots, easily gripping the pavement and carrying him forward. He was dressed in black jeans, a plain red t-shirt, and a black zip up Hoodie. Lately he'd been taking the last item off, Hoenn was hot. The semi tropical island hadn't been his first pick, he would have rather gone to Sinnoh, but right now Team Rocket and Team Galactic were there. He had no wish to deal with them both. The teams here had been wiped out in just two short years, by the police and a couple of kids. Some bunch of weirdo environmentalists who couldn't make up their minds on weather they wanted a bunch of land or water. It was a wonder they'd survived even a month.

Keri sighed, and ran to catch up. She would stay a ways back just so that he wouldn't run faster. The boys black jacket was hard to see in the dark morning, she could just barely see the first rays of sunlight to the east. His red hair flashed copper under each street lamp. Keri heard a shout, and stopped, someone was screaming…

She walked a few steps ahead, and looked down the alley she had heard the noise from. Another shout, someone's growling voice. She couldn't see what was going on, but she knew that she couldn't just leave it alone. She would catch up with Silver later.

Silver looked back, hating himself for it, but he couldn't hear her running behind him anymore. He turned all the way just in time to see the end of her green jacket disappear into an alleyway. He began walking back slowly, hopefully she'd just seen a rare Pokemon…

Keri shouted, and tackled the man attacking the girl. She looked like she was only twelve. He shoved at her, but she punched him in the face, ramming her fist right into his nose. His eyes watered, and it was obviously broken. He growled at her and managed to kick her knee, making it buckle. She slid in the wet gravel, and fell backwards. Keri tried to get up, but the man was already leaning on her chest, his hands around her throat. She glanced around for the girl, but she had already run off…

Keri struggled, trying to shove his hands away, with each movement he pressed harder. She finally managed to painfully turn her head and bite his arm. He released her for only a second, but that was all she needed. "SILVER!" She managed to scream the name out before he punched her in the face, and grabbed her neck again. She couldn't breathe… she couldn't get air into her lungs. And soon she blacked out. Her last thought was that it had been stupid. He wouldn't come, he didn't care about her and was probably already on the route… too far out of earshot. They'd put someone else on her mission…

She was wrong. As soon as he'd seen the other girl run off, he'd begun to jog back… just don't let her be dead. He wouldn't be able to take it if she were dead. He knew it would be his fault for not running back immediately. Isn't that what you're supposed to do when you think someone is in trouble? He didn't know, he almost never paid attention to anyone else.

"SILVER!" His name out in the air, he shot towards the sound, down the alley. A man was strangling her. He glared at her, and got off. She wasn't moving… she couldn't be dead, there was no way he had been to late… just a few seconds, just a couple seconds. He stared from a shadow.

"Who are you?" He growled, his intent to scare the shit out of this man before killing him.

He turned around, looking, and suddenly saw a pair of sharp silver eyes glaring at him out of the shadows.

"Wha Who are you?" the mans voice trembled, good. That meant he was already scared.

"Your worst nightmare." He growled, imitating a movie he'd seen. He knew it was cliché, but the man looked ready to wet himself. He began to run.

Silver jumped the man, and pinned him on the ground, pulling out a knife from his belt. He always carried a knife, it was useful. He pressed the blade against the mans neck, who was whimpering and muttering about never doing something again. "please please…"

"Now why should I let you go?" He snarled in the mans face.

The man had no clue what Silver was, all he saw was a silver eyed demon with a head wreathed in fire. He couldn't help whimpering, the creature was going to kill him, he felt one of its claws against his throat. It growled at him, a snarling voice asking him to give a reason to let him go.

He struggled with an answer, unable to find any in his scrambling brain, he whimpered and wondered why he was so wet. The demon sneered at him and slashed at his face… he passed out.

Silver knew he hadn't killed him, but figured he would die soon enough when no one found him and his wounds got infected. He had no time to bother with scum like him anyway. He had slashed him across the face through an eye, and given him three slashes across the chest. He'd considered doing more, but decided that he didn't have time. Even if he did make it, he'd be blind in one eye for the rest of his life.

Silver pressed his ear to her chest, not bothering to spend time looking for the pulse in her wrist of neck… good. Her heart was beating. He waited a second, and could hear her breathing, light through her mouth. He slipped her backpack off her back and put it on his own, he never carried anything with him except the clothes on his back, his Pokemon, his wallet, and a knife. If he needed new clothes he would just buy them. He picked her up. She was dead weight, and harder to carry, but he had seen the hospital just a block down.

"Stupid girl. Why didn't you send out your Scyther?"

.~.~.~.~.~

Silver sat in the hospital room, looking out the window. They had asked what had happened, he told them that a man on the beach had attacked them this morning after leaving the town. It wasn't far from the truth even though it was a lie, but he didn't want them actually finding the piece of scum. Only worthless pieces of shit attacked women.

It was noon now. He was mad, they had made him stay because they had been traveling together, and what could he say? That she meant nothing to him? Obviously she had to mean something, he had saved her life. And they 'had been going to the beach' so he had to at least pretend to worry about her. He supposed it could also have something to do with the lie he told to get her a room faster…

"Sir, we still need your names." Silver turned to see a boy in scrubs standing there. It took him a second to comprehend what had been said.

Suddenly he felt embarrassed. He didn't actually know the girls name… and he certainly wasn't giving up his own. "uh… er… My name is Greg Smith. That's… Ann White."

The boy stared at him for a second. Wasn't Ann White an author or something? He decided not to dwell on it and signed them in. He would get their ID later, he was being paged.

An hour later the doctor walked in. "How are you doing?"

"Terrible." Silver muttered to himself.

"I wasn't talking to you. And I've seen plenty of cases like yours." She shot a glare at him, he was looking at the window.

"I have no clue what you mean." He watched her reflection in the glass.

"I'm saying that while the cops are out searching for the one who did this he may be sitting in here." Silver narrowed his eyes. He only hurt people who deserved it. She had been annoying, but had done nothing to him, so why would he even bother with trying to hurt her?"

"You think I'm some sort of abusive boyfriend then." He stared at her reflection, his hand folded into a tight fist. He wondered how long it would take for his nails to draw blood this time. He knew he looked the part… at least everyone said he looked bad. He didn't get it really, the guy in the blue shirt and jeans was the one who had attacked her, and HE looked like the bad guy? He dressed in what he liked.

"I get a lot of cases like that." She said calmly. "Boyfriend walks in with a beat up girl, tells the police a lie, and gets away with it while they're on a wild goose chase. There's an officer here to interview you now."

Silver felt the skin of his hand break, his sharp crescent shaped nails sinking into his palm. "Fine."

He stood up, and began walking towards the door. "What's wrong with your hand?" She asked, her eyes narrowed and focused on it.

Silver could feel the blood running over his knuckles. "It's called anger. So instead of yelling, and hurting someone, I've managed to hurt myself. I wasn't sure my nails were long enough, but I guess they were. Sorry I got blood on the floor, but you're probably used to that."

He continued out of the room, meeting the cop at the end of the hall. Officer Jenny. She looked at his bleeding hand. "Shouldn't they do something about that?"

"Probably, but I'm not going to let that doctor even look at it." Silver glared back in the direction of the room.

"So you're the trouble maker that has my team looking for a black haired man in jeans? That's not a very good description." She began walking, and he followed. She seated him at a table in an empty waiting room.

"Okay. What's your name?" She asked, pen stationed over a notebook.

He thought about just not answering her for a moment. "Greg." He said.

She smiled. "Good, Greg, what were you two doing at the beach so early in the morning?"

"I was going to try and find a water type… She was with me."

"I assume you two are a couple?"

Silver wondered if that would be the best angle to play at, it was the lie he had told the hospital… he decided against it. "Just traveling partners. We like to start early."

"The beach was at high tide this morning, covered in water." Silver knew that he was probably going to get caught in his lie. He gritted his teeth. The bastard deserved to die.

"I had a Super Rod… you didn't happen to find it?"

"No, unfortunately. You walked in here with a bloody knife in your belt… explain that."

"He attacked her, I was a lot further down the beach. I pulled out my knife and threw out the Pokéball for my Feraligatr. I jumped on his back and we got to them just as she passed out. I cut him with my knife, Feraligatr got him with his claws. He ran off towards the city." Silver held her gaze. He was good at lying. Stealing, lying, hurting people, and Pokemon training. The four things he was good at.

"Your Feraligatr attacked him on its own?" He knew this could lead to it being killed.

He shook his head. "No. I told it to attack. I won't do that again, I was desperate."

"You don't sound desperate." She knew that most boys in this situation would be reduced to a sniveling mess, scared to death. This boy acted bored.

Silver sneered slightly. "I don't cope with desperation very well. I prefer not to act desperate. I prefer to be on top of things."

"Right now you just seem angry."

He glared at her. "Of. Course. I. Feel. Angry," He growled, grinding his teeth. "First my traveling partner is attacked, then it takes until noon for them to get a freaking doctor in here! Then the doctor tells me I'm abusive! WHICH IS A BIG FUCKING SURPRISE TO ME! And NOW I'm stuck in here having a conversation with YOU because apparently the exact same story I told FIVE HOURS AGO wasn't good enough!" He felt his nails dig deeper into his hand as he slammed his fist on the table and winced. He would need stitches now, he could feel the blood flowing freely, and he knew that his nails were long enough to hurt him badly. He decided he would cut them off later. His temper was getting the best of him.

"Alright, calm down. You told the doctors she was your girlfriend?"

"Can you think of a faster way to get someone admitted than to pretend that you're going to be hysterical in about five seconds over your girlfriend or boyfriend? They knew that they would have a big scene to deal with if I lost it." he was actually proud of himself for that little façade, 'lying and acting are practically the same thing.' He thought for a second.

"That makes sense, but you still lied. You could get into huge trouble for that."

"I know. It was worth it to get her in here though." More lies, pretending he actually cared. He almost smiled to himself, this cop was putty in his hands. He could play this any angle he wanted now as long as he stuck to the story.

"I'm sorry. Greg, was it? That girl keeps asking for someone called Silver?" It was the doctor.

Silver winced. "Ug. Sorry, I forgot. That's because of my eyes, it's a nickname."

"Ahh. Well, she won't really say anything else. I'll just take you back to the room if you're done here?"

"We are done, he isn't really her boyfriend, he figured that would get her in the hospital faster."

"He would be right. We hate hysterical people." She led him back to her room.

"Okay, here's Greg." She looked at him confused until he winked, then she seemed to understand.

"Ann, are you okay? Do you feel alright?" He asked, walking closer.

She wondered if the concern was real, and decided that it probably wasn't. Silver wasn't the kind of person to worry about others, or even himself.

"… I… I think so. Nothing feels broken… why am I in the hospital?" She had thought he would take her to the Pokécenters hotel or something, hospitals had too many cameras, and there was a cop. This was a kid on the run from the world, why would he do something so stupid to himself?

"That man, remember, we were on the beach and you were attacked. He almost killed you before me and Feraligatr got to you, if you hadn't screamed I wouldn't have known until too late." Silver deeply hoped she got the clue.

"Thank you, I don't remember much of what happened, I just remember getting jumped by that guy… ug. My throat feels horrible." She reached up and touched it lightly, wincing. It hurt, she knew it was badly bruised.

"That's going to take forever to heal."

"Not forever, just a very long time. You are lucky to be alive, if he had pressed much harder your windpipe would have collapsed." The doctor glanced at Silver, who looked terrible, his hand was still bleeding, and he had a look of deep concern on his face…

"We've been having problems with Team Rocket around here lately, they're trying to get roots here in Hoenn. The man who attacked you could have been part of the organization." Officer Jenny said, watching their reactions. The boy got stiffer, he looked like he wanted to bolt. "Is there a problem Greg?"

"I lost my mother to Team Rocket… Is all. I hate them."

"Oh… I'm sorry. Well, I'd better be going." The officer walked out of the room still thinking about the boy. Something wasn't right about him, she thought he looked oddly familiar, but couldn't place why.

"You can be released tomorrow, until then get some sleep and we'll bring up some food later," She glanced at Silver, remembering his hand. "Can I see your hand?"

"No need to, just send in a nurse to stitch it up. I would do it myself if I wasn't in a hospital, but since this is a hospital…"

She nodded, and walked out. Silver looked at his hand. Four perfect crescent shaped holes, they were deep, he looked at his finger nails. He hadn't clipped them in a while. He guessed they were longer than the girls, whose looked like she chewed them. The nurse walked in. "Hi… Greg right? Just stitches?"

He glanced at the nurse, it was the same boy who had been in the room earlier. "Yeah. Unless Ann minds, we could probably do it in here." he turned to the girl.

"Yeah, that's fine. I've seen stitches done before, most trainers know how to do them themselves, getting hurt is one of those things we do best."

The nurse nodded. Silver sighed. Stitches on his hand, good thing he was right handed, he wouldn't be able to use his left for a while if he didn't want to rip them out.

"You have really long nails, I can't believe they're deep enough for me to need to do this. You might want to look away."

Silver smirked at him. "I've stitched up a Sneasel before, I can handle my own hand." His face turned dark at the thought of his pokemon. Sneasel…

XOX

And end chapter one. I hope you liked it. If you spotted any spelling or grammar mistakes, please point them out. Thanks for reading.


	2. Chapter 2

Okay. The first part of this chapter is kind of awful, and a little gross, so if you have a really weak stomach, don't read the first five paragraphs.

CHAPTER TWO

Silver was on the small rowboat, the one used to get to Mt. Pyre. That girl was still with him, sitting in the back as a young boy in the middle rowed. "Silver? I'm sorry."

He looked up at the girl… she was pale and looked thinner. "What's wrong with you?" He sneered.

"I'm sorry…" She said again, getting thinner, her head lolling back…

"Turn around!" he shouted at the boy rowing, but he didn't seem to hear. Silver shouted again, watching her deteriorate, she began to crumble to dust in the bottom of the boat. Silvers sense of urgency grew, he needed to get back to shore, she couldn't just crumble to dust!

He grabbed the boy, shook him… the boys arms were soft, and his hands sank right through the flesh… he screamed, and pulled away, hands were suddenly covered in rancid blood, the scent of rotting flesh curling up from the dead boy, who kept rowing, rowing, broken muscles and sinews in his arms showing through, flesh falling off bone. The boy turned his face towards Silver, empty rotting eye sockets staring.

Silver started awake, and ran to the bathroom, hanging his head over the toilet, heaving. "eeerrrrruuggghhh. Oh god."

He panted, eyes wide and staring into the water. What the hell had happened there? He was relieved to see that nothing had actually come up, but he was still covered in a thin sheen of sweat, the back of his neck prickling in the cold air of the hospital. He lay down on the floor of the bathroom for a minute, breathing in deep breaths of cold air, shoving the images of the dream from his mind, his stomach churning. He reminded himself to never eat hospital food again.

A few minutes later a nurse poked her head in the bathroom. "Are you okay? Do you need me to call someone…?"

"No, no. It was just a bad dream, a really bad one. I have a very vivid imagination, unfortunately. I'll be fine." He silently swore to himself. Now he looked weak. Vulnerable. Hadn't he seen worse before? It was just a stupid dream.

"Are you sure?" She asked.

Silver took a deep breath and stood up. "Yes, I'm sure. It was probably just something I ate. It happens sometimes. Shouldn't you be checking on Ann?"

Silver walked into the room, looking at the girl sleeping under the blankets. He knew he wouldn't be satisfied until he touched her, to make sure she wouldn't crumble to dust in his fingers. He looked out the window while the nurse checked her. As soon as she was gone he sat in the chair next to her bed, nervous. If she woke up what would he do? Tell this girl he hardly knew that he was having a nightmare about her dying and had to make sure she was still alive? That sounded stupid. It was stupid.

He rolled his eyes, and just leaned his head back on the wall, the image of her crumbling playing again and again through his head. He was disgusted with himself, actually letting his mind be affected by something like this. In a few more hours they would leave this stupid place, and be on the road. He'd looked at a Hoenn Guide before going to sleep, there were supposed to be Poochyena in the eastern rout.

.~.~.~.~.~

"Where are they?" Officer Jenny ran through the doors of the hospital. The sun high in the sky.

"You need to calm down. Who are you looking for?" The nurse asked. It was the boy who had originally looked after Keri. Or Ann, as he knew her.

"That couple, Ann and Greg." She was impatient, and wanted to just storm up to the room. There was no time for this!

"We released them this morning at eight. Is there a problem?" Officer Jenny ground her teeth, eyes blazing.

"Yes. There is a problem. That boy is actually a wanted criminal by the name of Silver Giovanni." She glared at the nurse, holding up the wanted poster.

"What is he wanted for?" The nurse stood there, worried. If he had let a wanted criminal go, would _he_ be in trouble? Of course, this was the same kid who got out of high school thinking that hospitals were just like the soap operas. He was smart, just a little slow.

"He's the son of the criminal mastermind behind Team Rocket. He's wanted for thievery of Pokemon, withholding information about a criminal organization, and the murder of a man whom we still haven't identified."

The nurse thought for a minute, going over this in his head. The robberies and information thing were bad, but murder… "How do you know he's the murderer of the man?"

"There were witnesses, but the man had no identification on him, no one knew his name." She was growing impatient.

"Couldn't it have been in self defense? What if Team Rocket is chasing him?" The last the nurse had heard of the boy was on the news, he had been spotted eating a lunch in the woods or something. That was rather boring for a criminal.

Officer Jenny glared at the Nurse. "Who are you? His lawyer? Just get me the freaking footage from the room they were in."

"I'm Michael, and I can't do that without patient authorization." He didn't like the officers tone, something didn't feel right.

"Well _Michael_ you had better go and get one of the doctors or something to confirm that." She turned as she heard the door fwish open. A Doctor was standing there.

"Michael, you had better go and see if you can find that boy and girl. Warn them that team rocket are in town I'll deal with this _officer_." The doctor strode in, for all the world looking and sounding just like a soap opera character. The boy nodded, knowing that something good was about to happen. Good things always happened when someone strode in melodramatically.

Michael walked purposefully out of the hospital, hoping he looked just as melodramatic as that doctor had. He knew he didn't though, and quickly gave it up. He had to look for that boy and the patient. He couldn't help thinking that he wasn't as bad as the cop had said. That Silver kid, he looked like he genuinely cared about that girl and he _had_ seemed half hysterical when bringing her into the hospital.

Michael decided that he couldn't be that terrible of a person, if he carried a girl all the way to the hospital. A lot of people walked in covered in blood.

.~.~.~.~.~

"You know. I learned something in that hospital." Silver was waist deep in grass, every now and then running into a bare patch. He knew they were a little rare in this part, but he wanted a Poochyena, it looked like it could handle him.

"What?" Keri responded, absolutely sure he was about to say something negative. She was right.

"I _hate_ hospitals. And I have no clue what your name is." Well, at least the last half wasn't negative.

"Oh. I'm Keri." 'Nice to meet you. To bad we just met today… oh, _wait!_' She rolled her eyes in the boys direction.

Silver cocked his head to the side slightly, listening to the grass. Keri. Hmm. "Well… I guess you know my name, although there aren't many Silvers around."

What was this? Was he actually trying to make pleasant conversation? She grew a little suspicious. "It is an uncommon name."

Silver grimaced, and continued his search for a Poocyena in silence. He was sure that she knew who he was. He had only ever met one other person named Silver, and he hadn't had red hair… or hair at all for that matter. He threw out his Crobats Pokéball as he saw the grass rustle a little. The small dark type jumped out, growling. "Mean look."

The bat bobbed a little, then locked eyes with the Pokemon, stopping it in its tracks. It actually seemed paralyzed for a second, its back rigid, legs locked. "Arial ace."

It cowered as the bat Pokemon slashed at it with his wings, and Silver threw out a Pokéball as it fell over, unconscious. It was captured almost immediately. He picked up the Pokéball. The Pokemon in this part were a little weaker than what her was used to battling in Johto, but he was a trainer. He could make it stronger.

He turned to see Keri watching him, a look of slight surprise on her face. "If your Pokemon are that strong, why are you bothering to catch more?"

He smiled, but it didn't reach his eyes, or look even remotely happy. "I'm a trainer. That's what I do, train Pokemon."

"Oh… well, that's great." She muttered, searching in the grass. Maybe she could get another flying type… She looked up as she heard someone crashing through the grass. It was the nurse… well this couldn't be good.

"Hey! Hey. I'm glad I caught you two." He was obviously out of breath, and still ridiculously in his scrubs.

Silver looked at him, anger and a slight curiosity on his face. A basic expression of 'what the hell do you want?'

"What's the matter?" Keri asked, before Silver could voice his facial expression.

"Okay, the cop walked into the hospital saying you were some kind of a criminal," he pointed at Silver "and was asking to see the footage from your room, and then she was getting mad at me, and my name is Michael and then the doctor walked in melodramatically and told me to go and find you and there's something about team rocket and now I have to find a boat."

Keri just stared at him. Silver was ruder. "My god, do you ever run out of breath? I'm surprised you know the word 'melodramatically'. Why do we need a boat?"

Michael wasn't sure how to take the insult, but answered the question. "We need a boat because the officer wasn't an officer and now we have to get out of here to Dewford while the doctor bows up the tunnel… that doesn't sound like a good idea to me but he's going to do it for some reason-"

He paused to take a breath and Silver placed his hand over his mouth. "Okay. One. Shut up. Learn to say sentences, pause after them, and breathe. Two. Team rocket can't do anything to me. I don't care what their goal is this time, I'll take care of it. Three. What does Dewford have to offer that you would bother taking me there? Now, I am going to remove my hand. I want you to speak clearly and calmly, or I will tie you to a tree upside down and make sure your clothes are missing so that whoever finds you is laughing too hard at your bare ass to figure out how to untie you. Understand?" The nurse nodded. "Good."

Silver removed his hand. "Okay. I ran into the doctor again while looking for you. He said that Team Rocket was here actually looking for you, and would do just about anything to get you. As for what Dewford offers? All trainers go there. You can get Aron, which is a steel type that grows incredibly strong, and then there's Sableye, a Ghost and Dark type. It has no natural weaknesses, and if trained right is invaluable."

Silver nodded after a minute. "Fine. Dewford then. Do you know a boat that could take us?"

Michael thought for a minute, drumming the fingers of his right hand on his left arm. "There is this guy who lives in old Brineys shack that takes kids out sometimes. I'd bet he'd be willing to take you."

"That odd little shack outside Petalburg?" Keri asked, praying that they didn't have to go through those woods. Slackoth. Ug. She hated them, their huge creepy lazy eyes, hanging asleep upside down, their huge ugly pink bellies hanging out. She shuttered. Not to mention the fact that most of them had fleas crawling through their ugly shaggy coats.

"Yeah, that's the one. It will take a day to get through the woods, but I could take you. We'll actually probably have to camp there for a night but…" he paused at the redheads gaze.

"No camping. We'll go through the night. My father doesn't stop at nightfall, to keep up with him, neither do I." He knew this was going to be rough. He hadn't slept at all two nights ago, and the hospitals plastic chairs weren't exactly made for sleeping in.

"Okay. I'll meet you guys at the Pokécenter. I have to find the doctor."

Michael paused for a second. "If I'm not there by five go on without me."

They both rolled their eyes as he ran off. "That was…" Keri started.

"I think he thinks he's in a soap opera. I wonder when the pregnant woman who can't decide who's baby she's having appears. We should get to the Pokécenter before that idiot hurts himself." He stalked off through the crumpled grass.

"I wonder when the two who pretend to be nothing finally realize they're more than something." She muttered to herself, kicking at a small rock and following after. How stupid was she? She'd actually laughed a little at the soap opera comment, _laughed at something _he'd _said_. She was working for team rocket, in one more week it would be her job to report his location and make sure his Pokemon were incapacitated. She shoved all thoughts of the boy, besides the mission, to the back of her head. This was no time to be doubting her loyalties.

The thoughts resurfaced soon enough though, running beside him towards the Pokécenter. 'He saved my life. Probably twice…' she shook her head, ignoring them. She knew she found him attractive, all of the female Rockets who had seen him had said as much. It was just hormones, that was all. Nothing to even think about. She shoved the thoughts behind a brick wall in her mind, this time locking them away for a while.

"I wonder who this doctor person really is. He didn't give us any names." Keri said, trying to make the silence of the Pokécenters obnoxious elevator music less awkward.

"I honestly don't care." He walked away, towards the back, handing his Pokemon to Nurse Joy. She healed them and handed them back, squinting at him slightly as he walked to the small bookcase. He pulled out a copy of Hoenn Guide, and flipped through the pages. Keri assumed that he was looking up Dewford and the surrounding areas.

Keri yawned. She didn't really have that huge of an interest in catching Pokemon, she had her Scyther and Wailmer. If Silver got more Pokemon though, and they were strong, she would have to catch more too. Her Pokemon were as strong as his, but just barely. If she failed to knock them out at the right time, he would get away again. And next time he wouldn't let down any of his defenses; they'd just have to shoot him.

The doctor strode into the Pokécenter, dressed in brown pants, a white shirt, and a brown jacket. How he wore a jacket in the middle of the day, in _Hoenn_ was incredible. The nurse followed behind, finally dressed in something besides his scrubs. Just a yellow t-shirt and black jeans. "Okay, we've got to go. Get over here."

Keri looked up at him, and had to bite her cheek. She took a deep breath and calmed herself. Detective Jack Rain. The best detective on the planet, or at least in hoenn. Part of the international Police, trailing Team Rocket. Team Rocket knew just as much about him as he knew about them. Which was a lot. She prayed that he hadn't somehow gotten into her file, he was the most competent Detective the I.P. had, and she didn't want to get caught this early.

"Right. I assume you're this Doctor person. Just wonderful. At least you can't be any worse than Michael there." Silver glanced at the boy, and stalked out of the Pokécenter.

"No wonder people don't like him much. He's not very polite." Jack looked at Keri.

She stood, smiling. "I'm Keri, he's Silver, I'm guessing you know. I think he's rude because he doesn't know how to show that he's grateful. We had better follow him before he leaves us behind in those woods."

The detective nodded, and they walked out of the sliding glass doors of the Pokécenter. Michael was watching the girl, she seemed nervous. Was it just going into the woods?

Silver waited at the edge of a bridge for them, and soon Keri, Michael, and the detective arrived. They could see the woods, just a little ways away. They walked across, and then the Detective stopped them so he could talk to Silver. "Before we go. I'm Detective Rain, I've been tracking Team Rocket for six years now. I am fully aware of your past, and while I wouldn't normally work with a minor of your reputation, I cannot let Team Rocket get you."

"Done now?" Silver asked, leaning against an oak tree.

The Detective nodded. Silver started. "Good. I know who you are. I've heard way too much about you from those idiots not to. I don't normally work with anyone, so unless you want me to leave you tied up in a tree, you listen to what I say. I don't care how much information you have on me, or how much older than me you are; if you call me a _minor_ again, I will stab you. Now lets go, they're stupid, but they're not going to try to dig through a cave in."

They made their way into the woods. Detective Rain fuming, Silver walking at a steady pace in front of him. Michael was in the front, leading them down a skinny path. Keri walked along slowly behind the detective, keeping an eye out for Slackoth.

.~.~.~.~.~

It had gotten dark out, the path through the woods almost impossible to see. There were so many twists and turns that Keri had no clue where they were anymore. Much to her embarrassment she had found herself next to Silver as they walked down the path. It had gotten a little wider, but not much.

"We still have at least two hours of traveling to go." Michael called.

Keri groaned loudly. "We have been traveling in here for HOURS. It has to be two in the morning now! Can't we just sit for ten minutes?"

Silver squinted at her, almost a glare. He could see how exhausted she was. And he was pretty tired himself, although he would never let it show. "Fine. Ten minutes. We should probably eat a little. Then we're starting again. I don't want to stay in these woods any longer than we have to, team rocket likes traps, and they've probably been tracking us with their Pokemon."

They all sat in a small diamond around the path. Keri searched through her backpack, and found a box of granola bars. There were two for each. She also passed around a bottle of water. They ate quietly.

Keri leaned back, sighing. She could just go to sleep here, the soft springy moss under her was nice. Soft… She opened her eyes as wide as they would go, before shrieking out in to the night and jumping across the path, landing on Silver, and causing him to drop the water bottle and spew out what he was just about to swallow. The Pokemon Keri had been leaning against looked up in confusion. "Slaaa?"

Silver blinked for a second, her body was uncomfortably close to his… He pushed her off carefully, and sat up. "What the hell is wrong with you?! It's just a Slackoth."

"Ug. I _hate_ them. I can't stand them. They're horrible, and awful." She glared at the confused Pokemon.

Silver stood, fingering his Pokéballs… he drew the one belonging to that Poochyena, the nurse at the center had told him its moves. "Go, Tackle."

The Pokemon flew out and slammed into the Normal type. It flinched a little, but other than that, didn't move. "Howl."

The Dark type let out a low loud Howl, visibly getting more excited. It growled. Slackoth raised an arm, glaring at the Poochyena "Dodge."

It didn't need to be told twice, the silver and black puppy-like Pokemon jumped back "Bite" then leapt forward, latching onto the slashing arm of the Slackoth. "Shake it."

The poochyena looked confused for a second, then let go of it's arm, grabbing it by the back of the neck, shaking the heavy Pokemon as best as it could, when it dropped it, the thing was barely conscious. Silver threw out a Pokéball, the red beam flashing out and capturing the yawning Pokemon. It was sucked inside. It shook once… twice, then was still. Silver returned the Poochyena.

He picked up the Slackoths Pokéball and handed it to Keri, who almost wouldn't touch it. He locked eyes with her, deadly serious. "Train it."

She stared at him, open mouthed as he started on the trail again. There was _no way in hell_ she was training the thing. They were horrid! The detective and Michael began walking, she followed. Michael began walking beside her. "They aren't that bad. I have a Slackoth back home, they're actually sort of cute."

She had no clue what planet he was living on, but Slackoth _was not cute_. It was about as far from cute as you could get. "If you like it, why don't you take it?" She shoved the Pokéball at him.

"No way. Silver gave that to you. _He would KILL me_ if I took it." He moved away a little, and Keri gave up. How was she supposed to train it? The thing was as slow as molasses, she had seen it. She let out a frustrated growl, and deciding that there was nothing she could do about it now, hooked the Pokéball to her belt. In the back of her mind she couldn't help wondering if the boy had given it to her for a reason other than to just torture her.

Silver was silent, walking behind Detective Rain. How many Pokemon had he seen and battled that he had originally thought stupid, or weak, or worthless? Too many of them had proven him wrong, especially upon evolving. That Slackoth had been weak, but a strong trainer could train any Pokemon. He touched Crobats Pokéball.

The Zubat hadn't been the best, but it had been easy to catch, and he'd managed to train it. At first he had been cruel to the Pokemon, making it fight far beyond it's limit, and even after it had evolved, he was still mean to it. It had only been after a meeting with lance, the champion in Johto, that he had reconsidered his methods.

It had taken a lot to gain the trust of the Pokemon. And then it took months to form a real bond. Soon after though, the Golbat had evolved into the faithful and strong Crobat that he had now. Feraligatr had been loyal to him since the beginning, since he was a Totodile. Doing whatever Silver had said, taking whatever undeserved beatings it had gotten only to get up and try harder.

Silver stroked the Pokéball belonging to the large gator. It was far to loyal to him, far to trusting of him, when he'd gotten it. And even after everything he'd put him through, it was still there, by his side every time he needed him.

And Sneasel… he hung his head, looking at the dusty path, his hands shoved in his pockets.

He took a deep breath, the earthy forest scents making their way to him, energizing him. He would begin proper training of this new Pokemon tomorrow. Poochyena. The battle in the woods between it and the Slackoth had given Silver a good idea of its abilities. It was obedient, and eager to follow orders. He would be hard on it, but he knew he couldn't be cruel. If there was one thing he had learned during his first adventure, it was that being cruel to your Pokemon was not a sign of strength.

Suddenly Silver looked up, they were in a small field… to his Right he could see water, to his left, woods. He turned to the trees as Keri and Michael walked out. The sun had just begun it's ascent over the forest, a bright shock of red crawling over them, the trees looked like they were on fire.

Keri took in a stunned breath at the view of them, the birds in the woods began to chirp loudly. The detective was looking west, at the shack that could be seen a ways down the beach. Michael spoke. "Red sky at night, sailors delight. Red sky at morn, sailors take warn. It's going to be impossible to find anyone who will take us."

Silver turned to the nurse. "That's just an old superstition. There are red mornings in Kanto and Johto all the time. Nothing bad happens."

"You've probably never been in the water when the storm hit. Kanto and Johto are land based. Out here everything is about water. There isn't a sailor alive who will take us out to Dewford, not with a sunrise like that." Michael looked out to the little shack.

Silver glanced at it, and it didn't look like much. He couldn't help himself, and yawned. Everyone looked at him, surprised. He shrugged. "I haven't slept properly in three nights. You do better."

He began walking towards the beach, heading for that shack. It didn't really look like anyone was home, but at least it was worth a shot.

XOX

And end chapter two! Thanks for reading. If you spotted any spelling or grammar mistakes, please point them out.

Thanks to Wolfstar-Wolfy-Hollyleaf for the review on Chapter One.


	3. Chapter 3

Okay. This chapter is slight borderline, but I don't want to place the story in M _quite_ yet. I feel like it could wait just a little longer, because there are only things spoken about or implied, and that's just a couple paragraphs to introduce someone we've met, but haven't gotten to know quite yet. I'm rather interested in the character, becuase when i started with them they were just going to be a minor sort of influence, mixing things up only a little, but my mind likes to make things interesting for everyone. So enjoy the Chapter.

CHAPTER THREE

It was torture, him being so close… oh so damned close! Keri clenched her hands into fists. He looked so… calm? That was so weird for him. She had never seen him asleep before, she had never slept in the same area as him. The shack wasn't large. It was downright _tiny._ They had been lucky though, there was a store room that must have taken up at least a third of the place, but there were sleeping bags and blankets inside, along with piles of books and canned food from the nineties.

Almost immediately after stepping inside the shack, a wind had started to howl. A few minutes later, the storm had broken out, the clouds hurling in at a terrifying pace. Michael had collapsed onto the couch almost immediately after walking inside. Leaving the rest of them to sleep on the floor. Detective Rain was asleep on the other side of the hut, closer to the door. Keri had bedded down by the small table. Silver had been a good distance away.

_Had been_. Now Keri was exceptionally uncomfortable. Silver had rolled over, facing her, that boy moved a lot in his sleep. Breathing slowly, eyes shut. He looked almost cute… okay. He was absolutely _adorable_. Keri gritted her teeth. She didn't want to wake him up, but she had to stop looking at him… she noticed that he had taken off his shirt, she could see his collarbone, part of his shoulder and chest… It sent shockwaves through her body. 'why why _why WHY me._'

Why did he have to be just so… ug, just so damned fucking _HOT_! She rolled onto her back, sighing. There was no way around it, she couldn't go under the table, it was too short, and she couldn't just get up and move, she would wake everyone, the klutz that she was, probably by tripping over him. She closed her eyes and tried to get to sleep, fantasies about the boy playing through her mind. She gritted her teeth. 'I am part of Team Rocket dammit! Anyone else would have been able to deal with this better. But nooo. They pick me, because I'm the closet to his age.' That was a lie… she had volunteered out of the ten people chosen for the actual mission. Her thoughts twisted around her head, but eventually she settled into sleep.

Silver was dreaming… he could smell her… feel her. That girl… Keri. She curled against him, and he wrapped an arm around her. She wouldn't crumble to dust… He slowly pressed his lips to her hair, just to feel it. He sighed, and she pressed closer…

Keri's brain slowly woke her body… first her ears. She could hear a soft thumping noise… it was calming. Next was sense of smell, the hut… she remembered the hut. It smelt like sea water… salt. Her face was pressed against something soft… She could have lain there forever, listening to that soft calming noise, the smell of the sea air hinted with something almost spicy… except that's when Silver woke up.

Silver stretched slightly, and opened his eyes, groggily, then sharply, taking in what he was seeing, about thirty seconds later, his brain processed it. "What the hell!?"

Keri started, shoving herself away from him and backwards into the table. 'What the hell!?' was exactly right, she winced as the wood hit her back. He hadn't been _that_ close when she fell asleep. She must have rolled over or something. She wanted to smack herself, she should have just woken him and moved. Or gotten _him_ to move. Her shoulder hurt. She just shoved her head into the sleeping bag, what the hell was she going to do? She gritted her teeth, fighting off tears. There was no way in hell she was crying.

Silver took a minute to examine himself, as Keri comically shoved her head into the sleeping bag. What had happened? They must have rolled over, and ended up like that. Why hadn't it woken him though? He hated to, but had to admit to himself that he'd liked it… that closeness. He had been able to smell her hair, her body, as she lay curled close to him, her head resting on his chest… he let himself imagine it for a second… 'What the hell is wrong with me!?'

He shook his head, angry at himself. He had _dreamt_ about her. _Twice_ now. Except maybe it hadn't been a dream… or maybe only part of it was? He couldn't figure it out, and growled at himself, frustrated. He shoved the sleeping bag away, and stretched his legs.

It was nothing. Just unfortunately bad positioning. He should have slept closer to the stove. Silver took a deep breath, apparently the storm had run it's course. How long had they slept? Eight hours? Twelve? He saw that Michael was still asleep. So was the detective.

"TIME TO GET UP." It was said forcefully, loudly, and both the sleeping men started awake. Michaels dark blond hair was standing up, it looked like he had been shocked by a Pikachu. He rubbed his eyes, his tanned face scrunched up, obviously not used to being woken in that fashion. Detective Rain was already pulling on his boots.

Keri wasn't sure to do… just pretend it didn't happen, and hope he did the same. She pulled herself out of the sleeping bag, biting her cheek. She couldn't help glancing at him, and regretted it. She almost instantly turned a gorgeous shade of pink, touched with red in the middle. It disappeared quickly though, and she was just left with the feeling of fading heat in her cheeks.

He was back to being cold. That glare on his face. She had thought it was permanent, until she had seen him asleep. He was still shirtless, she could see the muscles in his back, his shoulder blades prominent from the way he had his arms folded. His hair was slightly messy, just brushing past the bottom of his neck. She followed the curve of his spine down…

She couldn't do this. She _could not_ do this. She had orders. And those orders were _not_ to check out the butt of her target. She forced her eyes away, and stood up, stretching. All she had to do was take out his Pokemon. Then she would be free. She'd already gotten the tattoo removed, she could go to a region like Almia, or Orre. Just this one last mission, and she had tickets to wherever she wanted.

There was a door to her left, and she opened it, glad that she remembered where the bathroom was… ug. No Shower. She sighed. At least she could wash her face and brush her teeth.

Silver walked outside, checking his watch, it was past noon, about three. They had slept for ten hours. He was amazed that the little shack was still standing, seaweed and broken seashells were scattered across the beach, the waves still rushed up, breaking just before reaching the hut. That storm had come on fast, just twenty minutes after the sun had risen.

He could feel a slight breeze on his bare back, his toes sinking into the sand. For a couple minutes he shut his eyes. This is what it would feel like… being alone, on that island. No one to bug him. Team Rocket couldn't find him. He could come and go as he pleased without running into obnoxious people, without girls trying to hit on him, without older people pretending that they knew what his problem was.

"Sand-attack! Tackle!"

Silver was glad that he had his eyes shut as a spray of stand hit him in the chest, then something slammed into him, knocking him off balance for a second. He grabbed a Pokéball at random, and threw it out, steadying himself and glaring at the person in front of him. He took a quick not that he had sent out Poochyena. "Howl! Then Bite it."

The other person had a Zigzagoon, that was turning around to charge at them again. Poochyena let out a loud eerie Howl, that had the normal type stopped in its tracks. Poochyena charged forward, clamping its glowing black jaws around it's back. "Don't let go."

The Zigzagoon was squirming, trying to get out of the Dark types jaws. It bit down harder, able to feel the bones pressing in slightly, the spine bending just slightly… "Don't kill it. Just knock it out."

The Pokemon had been making a high pitched keening, the team rocket member had run off. Poochyena shook it slightly, then threw the bright orange and tan Pokemon into the sand. It was thoroughly beat up. It's Pokéball lay in the sand where the rocket had been standing earlier.

Keri ran out of the hut, staring at him. "What just happened?"

"Team Rocket. One of their grunts. _They left their Pokemon behind_." His voice was laced with anger, and he walked to the Pokéball and picked it up, stuffing it in his pocket. He knelt down next to his Poochyena, who was sniffing the Zigzagoon. He patted it on the head, then returned him to his Pokéball.

"It's orange." Keri said, staring at the beat up Pokemon.

"Gee, I hadn't noticed." Silver rolled his eyes. He had see several of the Pokemon the day before, while hunting for the Poochyena. This was the first Orange one he had seen. He ran his hand along it's body, feeling the place where his Pokemons fangs had pierced though. It wasn't very deep… there were a couple other wounds under the fur, those were deeper.

He slid his hands under its body, and picked it up. The Pokemon was light, he could tell it was underweight immediately. "Is there a Pokécenter nearby that we could take it to?"

He was clearly angry. Absolutely _fuming_, but he had kept his anger in check. His voice was even, quiet. Keri looked at the Zigzagoon. It looked too thin, from its labored breathing it seemed sick. "Yeah, in Petalburg city, it's just down the beach, you can't miss it after you get to the end of the beach. I'll get the others."

He was already walking. There were perks to growing up in Hoenn, like knowing how to get everywhere. Keri gritted her teeth as she walked into the shack. That Zigzagoon was sick, but it would go away in about a day, maybe three if it was relly bad, and she knew it was. Just the symptoms of the common cold, something that Pokemon caught all the time. The disease it actually had though, was something that Team Rocket members called Degrade. It severely lowers all of a pokemons defenses, for Pokemon battles and their immune system. Unless the Pokemon got treatment, it would eventually be killed or just die from a common disease. It was easy enough to take care of, just a couple shots from Nurse Joy, and it was back to normal.

The problem was that it looked exactly like the common cold. Impossible to tell apart unless you got your Pokemon specially screened. His Poochyena had it, it would pass it on to his other Pokemon, who would pass it on to hers. But she had the antidote in her backpack, just a few quick shots, and they would be healed, immune system boosted to fight it easily.

And as soon as Silvers Pokemon were better. She would battle them, and they wouldn't be able to move. Silver would be held at gunpoint, and taken away. And she would be gone.

"We have to head to Petalburg. I'm leaving, you guys follow when you want to." She grabbed her pack and shoved the door back open before it had completely shut. They would follow, maybe not for another ten minutes though. She let the tears run down her face freely, his Pokemon would be killed, and she didn't even know what they were going to do to him.

She took a few deep breaths, jogging. Forcing her eyes to dry up. Why did she care? Because under all of the crap she had heard about him, he was actually a decent person? Because instead of just taking out a Pokemon, or stealing an item, she was actually dealing with a real person?

"…… It doesn't matter." She growled to herself, her eyes became steel, she let every emotion she had slide behind that barrier. The one formed from working so long with team rocket, the one formed so she could do her job without guilt. So she could easily kill a Pokemon standing behind herself and the item she was stealing. She kept up the jog, her head clearing, and readjusting. For two months she had been following him, and for the second month she had allowed herself to get attached, allowed herself to care. No more.

.~.~.~.~.~

Andrew Hess lightly touched the right side of his face, the stitches holding his skin together. He had a couple hundred more like it under his shirt. He couldn't see out of his right eye now. He would never be able to again. And that Demon was the one who had done it to him. When he had woken up, he had staggered, bleeding, to a private hospital. On the outside it looked like a normal house, underneath it was a small private base for Team Rocket.

The demon, with silver eyes? He glared at himself in the mirror now, and was pleased to see that he looked terrifying. Silver. That brat. The one he was chasing down now. Andrew couldn't figure out what on earth his boss wanted with the little snot.

Of course, he had to run into Silver the one night he didn't have his gun, or his Pokemon, and the brat had taken him out with_ fear_. He hadn't even needed to use the knife, but had nonetheless.

Andrew had been a little drunk, and was feeling a little _excited_. It had been no huge deal, walking out of the bar and running into that girl, she had been running down the street, and it had been easy enough to trick her, grab her and drag her down the ally. He'd been rather happy with his catch, and after smacking her around a little bit, getting her to shut up, had tied her hands behind her back.

It had been wonderful, the feeling of power, the smell of her fear. Making her moan when he knew that she didn't want it, her body reacting while her brain fought it. He had untied her, so he could play cat, and smack her about a little bit when she tried to run, and that's when she'd screamed, and that _bitch _had shown up. He hadn't even gotten to actually fuck the girl, or the bitch that had attacked him.

Now he had lost an eye, a payment for his stupidity, for not being prepared. For being stupid enough to let that girl scream. For letting both of them scream.

He walked out of his bathroom, looking around the base. He still wanted it, and he would get it one way or another. He had sent four of his best out to follow him, following the plan that had been laid, the only part of the plan that Giovanni had told him. The rest had stayed here, slowly working their way into the city, and taking it over.

Perfect… One of the grunts had just walked in, her hair a mess. "You!" He shouted to her.

"What?" She seemed a little timid, scared of him.

"Come here, I need you." She would have to do until he could find that bitch who had attacked him. It was no fun to break the will of people who were already afraid of you.

.~.~.~.~.~

The doors to the Pokécenter fwooshed open, and Silver stepped inside, carrying the Zigzagoon. Keri walked in behind him.

Silver felt that there was something wrong with her, but that wasn't his problem. His problem was the Pokemon, that was clearly in very bad shape. He walked up to the counter and laid the Pokemon on it, waiting for the nurse. She walked out a few seconds later, and upon seeing the Pokemon, began to scold the boy.

Silver rolled his eyes, waiting impatiently for the spaz of a nurse to be finished yelling at him for not feeding it properly and making it battle too hard, and what were these holes in it's back, bla bla bla.

She finally had to take a breath. "It's not my Pokemon."

She stared at him for a second. "Well then who's is it!?"

Silver spoke again before she could go off about taking other peoples Pokemon. "Team Rocket had it. I battled it, and the boy ran off and left it laying there. He didn't even look back, so instead of leaving it laying there to _die_, I figured that it would be a _good_ idea to come here and get it healed. Of course, if you're just going to stand there and look at it, it would have been better for me to stitch those holes up myself."

The nurse was not happy with his tone, and made this very clear, but started healing the Zigzagoon. Silver walked away and sat in one of the couches, a couple cushions away from where Keri was. She hadn't wasted much time in following him… "Why _do_ you keep following me?"

Keri glanced over at him, and appeared to think about it a little. She wasn't thinking about why, she knew why, she was thinking up a suitable lie, but all she could think up was "I don't know. You just seemed like an interesting person."

She immediately regretted that one. She hadn't been able to come up with anything better, and telling him the truth was completely out. She almost smirked at him, he was her ticket to a new home.

"So you decided to randomly start following me, because you thought it would be _interesting_? You had _nothing _better to do, than follow me around? And I thought professor Elm needed to get a life." He glared at her for a second, then grabbed a book that was laying on the table in front of him.

Keri looked at it. It had been the only actual book there, a novel about a war between bird Pokemon. Probably left by a trainer who had decided that they didn't have time to read it.

"Well, at least it hasn't been boring." She muttered, mostly to herself. She turned away from him, finding a magazine to look through. His Pokemon would be taken out in a matter of days, and she would be free to do what she wanted.

Silver glanced at her. Her hair and clothes were a mess, her backpack, laying on the floor, probably couldn't get dirtier if she rolled it in mud. She was right, it hadn't been boring. They had been constantly running around since he'd noticed her, him mostly trying to see if she could keep up.

The only time she hadn't was when she'd been attacked, running into that alleyway and probably saving that other girls life. Something seemed different about her now. He decided that it didn't matter, being attacked by team rocket had probably spooked her, and she would end up leaving now. Good riddance. He went back to reading the book.

Keri flipped back the last page of the magazine and set it down. She decided that she really needed a shower, and to wash her clothes. She walked up to the counter, a younger Joy that was probably being trained smiled at her. "What do you need?"

"A hot shower, a washing machine, and a dryer." Her stomach growled. "Some food would be nice too."

The younger girl nodded. "Just two blocks down there's a Laundromat, and a Hot Spring. There are a few restaurants scattered around that you'll see walking down, and there's an ice cream parlor across from the Hot Spring."

Last time she had been there, three years ago, they had just started building the Hot Spring, a small chain of spas that you could relax at, or take a shower in if you were a trainer passing through. You could also rent rooms and, of course, spend time in one of the springs. They weren't real springs, but it was still nice. "Thanks."

Keri walked back over to the couch and grabbed her backpack. Silver looked up. "Where are you going?"

"There's a Laundromat down the street, and I'm in desperate need of some clean clothes. There's also a Hot Spring." She was trying to act like she had before, she couldn't let him catch on. Her tone was hard to control though, and she made it sound like she could care less if he came with. Of course, she didn't anymore.

"I'm coming with." He stood up, sliding the book under his arm.

"Oh great. Why bother?"

"Because last time I wasn't around, you almost got yourself killed. And while I really couldn't care less about where you were going, or how you end up dying, I don't want it to be because you accidentally got your head stuck in the washer machine."

She glared at him and began walking out of the center. He followed behind, staring at her. Something was definitely wrong, he had been sarcastic, almost joking. He was coming along because he wanted to. Of course, he didn't care about her. If something was wrong with Keri, it was her own stupid problem.

.~.~.~.~.~

Detective Rain sighed and shook his head at the idiot in front of him. "Look. We came here yesterday, looking for a ride to Dewford. Okay? Then a Pokemon got hurt and the other two people with us ran off to help it."

"So you thought you could just camp out in my shack?" He growled.

The mans name was Warren Briney, the owner of the shack. His Wingull perched on his shoulder. The man was older than dirt, and probably shouldn't be taking anyone anywhere in a boat. "No. A bad storm broke out, and we didn't have any other choice. We got here around five in the morning."

The old guy took a few minutes to comprehend this, then nodded. "Ahh. I get it. You and that boy, and those other two you keep mentioning, traveled through Petalburg Woods at night, and then ran to the shack before getting soaked by rain? And now you sent that boy after those other two, and they'll come back when their Pokemon is healed?"

"Yes! Finally you get it!"

"I'm still keeping you tied to the chair until they get back."

"Can I at least have something to eat?"

"No."

Mr. Briney sat on the couch and turned on the small T.V.

XOX

Yess! I made Mr. Briney into a crotchety old man. No worries though, poor Detective Rain will be fine. Of course, you already knew that.

This chapter was originally around twenty-five pages long. I cut in half. Chapter four is a little longer, but you have a lot to look forward to in it.

If you spot any Spelling or Grammar mistakes, please point them out.

Thanks to Wolfstar-Wolfy-Hollyleaf for reviewing on Chapters One and Two.

Thanks for reading.


	4. Chapter 4

CHAPTER FOUR

Keri Leaned against the side of the "spring" and sank down to her neck, yawning. There were a couple older people, six or seven other trainers, herself, and Silver. He had purchased a swimsuit in the small shop out front. He clothes were being taken care of at the Laundromat, she had paid extra for them to take care of them for her, and hold them until she got back. The price was high, but she decided it was worth it. They had eaten in silence at a small noodle place a couple stores down from the 'Laundry Circle'. Keri was never silent… And Silver hated himself for caring.

He opened the book to the last place he left off, reading the same line three times before giving up and setting it on the small ledge above him. He shut his eyes and let his body relax in the steaming water. He could read later, the hot springs were made for relaxing.

Keri let her body relax, but kept her mind focused. She knew that if she let it wonder, she would begin to doubt her resolve, and that was something that _could not_ happen. The water was so nice, especially after taking a cold shower, and then stepping into the steaming room.

It was mostly quiet, a little conversation, two of the trainers giggling about something. Keri's eyes flashed open as she listened, two of them, just close enough for her to hear, were talking about Silver.

"Yeah, that has to be him." The first one muttered, glancing at the red haired boy.

"And he's just wandering around here? No way." The second, taking a longer look.

"Yeah, looks just like his father. I met the guy once, not a nice person."

"You _did not_." The second trainer rolled her eyes.

"I did, he ran into me on his way somewhere and I challenged him to a battle, back in Kanto." He looked at her, completely serious.

"Really, and what happened?"

"He had his underling people take care of it, and just went on his way. I lost my Ekans to the jerk." He seemed deeply upset by this fact.

"But why would his kid be here?" She whispered.

"Who knows? No one can figure out whose side he's on. He's obviously not part of the gang, but he still steals stuff and tortures people." The boy glanced over worriedly.

"Maybe we should tell someone?" The girl was getting a little worried.

"No, he doesn't seem to be doing anything. Lets just move to the other side of the spring." Keri could hear them moving away.

She looked up, glancing at them as they walked a little ways away. The boy had his arm around her waist, holding her close, her head was leaning against his shoulder, they were obviously a couple.

She glanced across the pool, and Silver locked eyes with her. He had heard every word of the exchange. She stood up and got out of the pool, he did the same, grabbing the book.

The boy and girl were still watching him, when he left, waking out just behind Keri.

"Did you see that?" He said quietly.

"Yeah, think he might have a girlfriend?" She whispered.

"No, everyone says he's a jerk. Why would anyone be _his_ girl?"

"Oh come on, I think it's nice. Maybe he finally found someone he cared about, or found someone who could put up with him." She glanced at the door they had walked out of.

"Maybe they heard us talking, and she's going to the police, and he's going to _stop her_." He whispered. This made his fiancé scrunch up her face, worried.

"Why would he have followed so close though?" She pressed her shoulder into his as an emphasis.

"I.. I don't know." He wrapped his arm around her.

"Hmm."

Silver and Keri walked outside, still wet from the spring. She hadn't said a word to him for a couple hours now. He was getting irritated, and had almost no clue why. He didn't want her around, so why was he getting upset about her obviously loosing interest?

It was night now, the whole day wasted. Silver had finally purchased a black backpack, an extra outfit, and a few potions in the shop at the front of the Hot Spring while Keri was picking up her stuff from the Laundromat. He waited outside until she stepped out.

"We should probably go back to the center." She said, almost coldly, and took two steps before Silver grabbed her hand.

It was an_ ice cream parlor_. If there was at least one itty bitty thing he knew about her, it was that she wouldn't pass up ice cream unless held at gunpoint… or was being dragged away forcefully. He had left her behind several times while she paused at a stand to grab a cone.

"What are you doing?" She was confused.

"I'm buying you ice cream. Because you've been so fucking weird lately it's not even funny." He was aware in the back of his mind that this was somehow an affectionate action, but he honestly _just couldn't take it** anymore**_. It had only been about four hours, and he was ready to kill someone. Maybe he just didn't like change.

"I am not weird," she growled at him, but let him lead her into the shop anyway.

"I never said you were weird. I said you were acting weird. Big difference. Now shut up and get some ice cream."

The girl behind the ice cream counter gave him a funny look, and had to bite her cheek to keep from laughing.

He ignored her, and looked over the flavors. He may as well get some too. Keri was already ordering. Keri finished, and he walked up.

"A scoop of chocolate and a scoop of peanut butter on a cake cone… please." The seventeen-year-old behind the counter nodded, and managed to tell him the price with a straight face. Silver had said please, because last time he had ordered food without being nice, a pot of coffee had ended up in his lap.

He handed her the hundred Poké and grabbed his cone, he sat across from Keri at a window. "So… What did you get?"

He was sick of the silence, if he were alone, he would be traveling, or finding a place to stay. There wouldn't be any distractions, he wouldn't for some reason be sitting across from a girl he had been traveling with for a week and a half and knew nothing about. He wouldn't be frustrated with himself for caring about the stranger. He would have no reason to actually be making some sort of a conversation because her acting different was driving him _crazy_.

Keri looked up from her cone, surprised a little. "Mocha and Strawberry. You wouldn't think it would be good, but it's surprisingly refreshing. What about you?"

"Chocolate and peanut butter." He licked it, as if to make some sort of point… Why was he doing this? It had actually made him feel a little better, getting her to talk, but why did her care? Sure he'd saved her life, possibly twice, but that was just because it was the moral thing to do. What had even made his subconscious even consider caring about her?

"You like chocolate?" She asked, unaware that her brick wall crumbling just slightly. Just enough for her to care about this one little thing.

"You seem surprised. A lot of people like chocolate."

"Yeah… but it seems…" she thought about it for a second. "It just seems too sweet for you."

"I don't know. It's still cold…" Okay. What the hell? That was a joke. About _himself_. They were both confused, Keri let out a little laugh, Silver just stared at his ice cream, frowning in confusion.

They ate their ice cream in silence for a little while, but it wasn't as frustrating as it had been before. A couple walked in, the same two from the Hot Spring. The girl glanced at him and giggled quietly.

"See," She whispered quietly in her boyfriends ear. "I told you nothing bad was going on."

Silver looked Keri, she was nibbling around her cone, and had some ice cream on her nose. Silver was just finishing his cone, and took the last two bites, making an effort to look slightly grumpy and indifferent. He glanced back at her, that stupid little mark still on her nose. She was eating the last pieces of her cone, and he couldn't stop staring at that one little spot. She finally looked up. "What?"

He grabbed a napkin and had wiped it off before he realized what he was doing. He just couldn't take that stupid little smudge being there anymore.

She blinked at him, surprised. "Uh… Thanks?"

She was completely confused now, and fighting with herself. What the hell was he doing? He didn't care about her! He _couldn't_. This morning he had acted cold! He had picked up the Pokemon and run off, she had decided to just do her job! _What the hell was going on_!?

"Sorry. We should probably go back to the center, and see how Zigzagoon is doing. You should get Slackoth healed." His face was the way it normally was, a slight frown, but his eyes weren't as cold.

"Ug. That Slackoth." She sighed and stood up.

"It will probably be stronger when it evolves. Just take care of it, it will surprise you." He stood too, picking up his new backpack and sliding it onto his back.

"Yeah, but it's a Slackoth! They're practically useless, you saw how fast it moved when you battled it! And all of your Pokemon are strong anyway." They walked out of the parlor.

"I still had to catch the Zubat."

They were quiet while walking back to the Pokécenter, Keri thinking about the Zubat. It was a common Pokemon, most people avoided them because of how common they were. Is that what she had done to Slackoth? Because of what she had heard about it, or seen, was she underestimating it?

Silver was thinking about her. Looking at her, trying to figure out something. He was sure now that this afternoon, asleep, had not been entirely a dream, and while he wasn't sure if he had actually kisser her head, he still cared about her.

This revelation sent a slight shock through his body, causing him to look at the girl differently. Just earlier today, he had been driven crazy by the way she was acting, because that's how he had acted towards her. Cold, uncaring, moving on before she could even comment.

He looked back to the hospital. He could have just said he found the unconscious girl, and left her behind.

He gave her that Pokemon, because he cared about her state of mind.

He had come with to the Laundromat and hot spring, because he was worried about her getting attacked again.

He had bought her ice cream, and spoken to her, because he'd afraid she didn't care about _him_ anymore.

She had followed him, put up with him, taken every little insult, every glare, every silence. And he'd ignored her up until this point. He'd treated her just like he'd treated his Pokemon.

He made a decision.

"Keri." He noticed they were just a few feet away from the Centre.

She looked at him, something in his voice was odd. "What is it?"

He looked down at the girl, she was just a couple inches shorter than him, her brown hair neatly combed out and held back with a black headband. "I'm sorry."

He wrapped an arm around her, and brought their heads together, kissing her, his red hair falling against her face, his mouth against hers. He wasn't sure weather he had actually decided to kiss her, or if it had just happened…

Keri stood stiff for a moment, her eyes wide with shock. Her wall was crushed, _**this**__ was what she wanted_! What she had wanted, for too long. Too long to suddenly let her own mind just block it off. She relaxed, wrapping her arms around his body, one hand in his hair, wishing he would never stop, her heart beating in her ribcage, fire spreading through her body where his hand touched the small of her back. His lips slowly molded to hers, and she wrapped her other arm around his waist, feeling his body against hers, every second feeling like a lifetime and no time at all. Everything beginning and ending all at once, walls being rebuilt, torn down, hot fire ripping through her core.

Silvers head buzzed, taking in _everything_ at once. How she smelt, how her body so easily molded to his, her fingers twining in his hair. Their lips moving together. Each tiny minute sensation sent his head spinning, his body into shock, every part of him just wanting to hold on longer.

Eventually they had to breathe. Silver broke the kiss, gently pulling her in closer and wrapping his other arm around her, resting his cheek on her hair. He couldn't give up the feeling of her body against his quite yet.

Keri leaned her head against him, taking in his scent, her arms still wrapped around his body, fingers playing gently in his hair. She sighed, listening to his quickly beating heart. Feeling his cheek against her hair.

"We should go into the center." He mumbled.

"Hmm. Why can't we just stay out here forever?" She murmured into his shirt. Everything else had been forgotten, she just didn't want him to stop holding her.

"Because people will eventually want us to get off the sidewalk, because we need to sleep." He muttered, slowly unwrapping his arms. His head was still buzzing, he looked at her face.

It took every ounce of his will power just to not kiss her again, and he led her into the center, his hand holding hers gently.

.~.~.~.~.~

Michael had been waiting for them, receiving and feeding the Zigzagoon. It was okay now, other than a slight cold and being under weight, which were both easy to fix.

Keri's mind had reeled. Degrade.

And now she was struggling with herself, her mind and heart sick. She couldn't tell him, not after that. And if she did, Team Rocket would just kill her while he left her behind, then they would kill him as he escaped. This was the last plan before they resorted to just destroying the boy who managed to show up whenever team rocket happened to be winning.

It would kill him. She felt nauseous. Either way, she had killed him. Knocking out his Pokemon would mean him being captured, and finding out she was a traitor. Telling him the truth would destroy them both mentally and physically, they would both end up dead. And apart.

There had been two rooms in the Pokécenter for sleeping, and Michael had taken one, and Keri now lay on the bed of the other, trying to figure out what to do, and what the hell was wrong with her. He head hurt, her stomach twisted, she kept going over it again and again until it made her sick. Nausea coming in a huge wave.

She ran to the bathroom, tripping over Silvers arm, but miraculously not falling down. She leaned over the toilet, gagging. "Keri?"

She threw up, chocking out the contents of her stomach. Silver pulled her hair away form the toiled almost as an instinct. "Are you okay?"

What a stupid question. Of course she wasn't.

She heaved a couple more times, body and mind struggling with the confusion. Bile came up, and she heaved one more time, then leaned against Silver. Her body shuddering, tears running down her face. He was kneeling behind her, and she just rested her head against his chest, mumbling his name.

She had upset herself so much she had made herself sick. She gasped for breath, chest hurting, stomach contracting. Her throat was sore, nausea caused her stomach to roll continuously. "I'm sorry, so sorry, it's okay, okay okay. I'm sorry."

She muttered this incoherently, her brain was shutting down, she couldn't concentrate on what she was saying. Her bodies first priority was to take care of itself, and if shutting down her mind was necessary, that's what would happen.

"Take a deep breath, relax. It'll be okay." He reached up to the sink and grabbed one of the Styrofoam cups setting on it, blindly twisting the faucet and filling it.

He lifted the water to her face. "Rinse out your mouth."

She took a mouthful of the water and swirled it around, spitting it into the toilet. She did it a second time. Silver pressed the handle, flushing it's contents.

"I'm sorry Silver." She whispered hoarsely, head leaning against his chest.

"Shh. It's okay, there's nothing to be sorry about." he stroked her hair. He wasn't sure if he was doing any of this right, telling people that 'it would be okay' wasn't his forte. Holding back peoples hair while they were sick wasn't either. He was in a field he knew nothing about.

There was so much to be sorry about it wasn't funny. She thought for a second that she would be sick again, but the nausea passed finally, only to be replaced by exhaustion. She panted slightly, groaning, leaning over slightly. She couldn't move.

"We should get you back to bed."

She whimpered. Moving did not sound like fun. He unwrapped his arm and slowly stood her up. She leaned heavily against him.

It felt like traveling a mile to get to the bed, but they got there, Silver laying her down. She breathed through her mouth, washing out her lungs with cool air, even though every breath tasted sour on her tongue.

"I'm going to go and get the nurse." he took a few steps away, and she whined, like a badly hurt Pokemon.

"Don't go. Don't go don't go. Silver, don't go." She felt so awful. She couldn't be alone, she was terrified.

"Keri…" He had to get someone. He noticed a phone on the table. He picked it up, dialing for the nurse. It rang until a voicemail sounded. It was two in the morning. No one was there anyway.

Her whole body hurt. There was no way this was just mental. She whimpered out Silvers name again.

He sat on the other side of the bed, stroking her hair. "You're going to be okay." He wondered for a second if he should call the hospital, and get her to the emergency room. This had been so sudden.

"Okay. Just don't go." She felt hot tears running down her face, fear and shame mixing.

Michael. He was a nurse. Silver stood up.

"Don't go…"

"I'll only be gone for a moment." He disappeared out the door before she could call him back.

He banged on the door, beating it until his fist hurt. He accidentally punched the Twenty-two-year-old in the chest once. Then he grabbed the confused and tired boy by the front of his shirt and dragged him to his room, not even bothering to explain. He dragged him over to Keri. "She was suddenly sick."

It took a few seconds for this to process in his brain, but as soon as it did, he asked about it, and quickly knew what was wrong. "She has food poisoning... I think. I'm pretty sure."

Silver was slightly relieved. He knew how to deal with food poisoning. It was common, lots of liquids and lots of sleep was all she needed unless it got worse.

He leaned against the bed, head leaning against her arm and chest as he sad on the floor. "Just lots of sleep and water. No problem."

He was glad he hadn't gotten the shrimp at that stupid noodle shop.

XOX

Well, aren't I awful to Keri? Food poisoning is awful, but at least it serves a purpose. Eventually.

I think I go a little OOC with Silver here, but it's hard to write relationships without people being affectionate and all that. I'll have him back to normalish in the next chapter. Although I do imagine a sort of half turnaround sort of thing with him in a relationship. He's still a little harsh, but pays more attention, and cares. Bla bla. Whatever. We'll just see how it goes.

And how easily that brick wall crumbles, after only a few hours it's been broken down. But our girl hasn't gotten it all figured out, and she's still doubtful. It will be hard for her to get her mind completely sorted.

Right, well now that we've seen how I can blabber on about random things you don't care about at all _forever_…

Thanks for reading, if you found any Spelling or Grammar mistakes, please point them out to me.

Thanks to Wolfstar-Wolfy-Hollyleaf for reviewing on Chapters One, Two, and Three.


	5. Chapter 5

_**READ: **_Thanks to everyone who has been reading Silvers Kiss, especially those of you who have favorited, added an alert, or reviewed. Unfortunately, for the fifth chapter, I did have to change the story to M. I would greatly appreciate it if you examined yourself and made sure that you were in the correct mind set to read this. I understand that a lot of kids here are much more mature than what is typical, and that several of them can handle more than what is typical for people their age, but I will still have this warning. Any psychological damage that is done because you are underage and have read my story is not my fault. You are entirely liable for your own actions regarding what you read.

(Okay, now I promise that it isn't as bad as what that up there makes it sound, but it would make me feel better, personally, if you really did examine yourself, mentally, before reading.)

CHAPTER FIVE

Keri sighed as the water ran down her back. She had been sick for three days. Stupid seafood special. At least Silver had been there, and Michael for most of the time. She had finally made up her mind, sick in bed. She would just betray team rocket and run away. She felt like this was a little cowardly, and she knew that she wasn't going to tell him that she had been part of the gang until after she helped take them out.

It was the only way out she could find. She felt awful about lying to him, but at least she was a good liar. Her Pokemon had been healed, Silvers were just getting over their 'cold'… She would have to find a way to take care of that. The Pokemon's attack and speed were unaffected, the disease had been manufactured so that this wouldn't happen. Silvers Pokemon would still be strong, easily taking out anything that couldn't land a hit on them.

Except Poochyena, it was still young, and not as strong. She would figure out something later. Right now she just focused on rinsing the conditioner out of her hair, and she let her mind wonder towards Silver, just him alone. Not the huge mess she was in now, not his Pokemon, just the boy himself.

She felt a blush play across her cheeks, just for a second, as she let her mind play through him kissing her again. The boy had taken care of her the entire time she was sick, the Nurse Joy had come up and asked what was wrong in the morning, Michael had left a message on the phone. Keri shut off the water and got out of the shower, wrapping her body in a towel.

It had mostly been a blur, she had slept through most everything.

She smiled, she only wanted to be with Silver, that wasn't so difficult… but it was. She let her face fall. Who would she have to go through? People she had been on missions with, girls she had helped train, others she had gone through training with? Some of them had become her friends, and she suddenly wasn't so sure. Could she hurt someone she had been friends with? How could she bring herself to kill their Pokemon if it came to that?

Silver knocked quietly. "Keri, are you almost done? I left my shirt in there." He didn't want to intrude on her… but he couldn't walk around the Pokécenter without a shirt. The nurse would have a fit.

Keri looked around the bathroom. He had left his shirt on the sink, and his backpack in the corner.

She dried off her feet… just thinking about him. He would have his shirt off…

She let her mind go off on it's own for a few seconds, wrapped her body in the towel, and opened the door, practically tackling him and wrapping her arms around his body as they hit the floor.

Silver felt the shock spread through his mind, body, arms, legs. _She was practically naked._ He had to bite back a moan as her chest rubbed against his. Instead he pressed his lips against the girls, heart beating so fast he felt like it would jump out of his chest.

Keri couldn't help purring in the back of her throat, rolling him on top of her. He body arched, so close, and she wanted him so bad. How many times had she dreamt about it? Imagined it? Her tongue lightly brushed his lips, urging him to open his mouth.

"Keri!" He growled, breaking off their kiss, holding her head carefully between his hands, looking into her eyes.

He had never wanted anything more in his life. His body pleading with him to remove the thin layers between them, he could feel her own heart thrumming. He slowly kissed her, then rolled off her, sitting up and leaning against the small dresser in the room, trying to get his body to calm down.

"What's wrong?" She rolled over, picking herself up about a foot off the ground, leaning on her elbows. She could tell by the look in his eyes that he wanted this as much as her, maybe more. All she wanted was to be as close to him as possible, to feel his body against hers…

"We can't, not now." He shut his eyes, leaning his head against the white painted drawers. Keri could see the bulge of his erection under the black pants, knew that he was burning to have her.

"Why not?" She asked, barely able to restrain herself. It would only take a tiny push to make them both go over the edge.

"I don't have a condom. For one. What if you got pregnant? And this room is reserved now, we have to be out of here in half an hour. Keri… I don't know anything about you. I only realized a couple days ago how much I _really_ cared about you. All I know is that you've been following me around for some unfathomable reason, and even with all the crap I put you through, you still put up with me." He took a deep breath through his nose, letting it out his mouth.

His head burned, and he dug his fingers into the carpet, breathing deeply like that had been a bad move. He could _smell _her.

Keri knew he was right. She hadn't even been thinking about that, he _didn't_ know much about her. They had only been traveling together for two weeks, only three of those days had been spent in realization of each others feelings, and for most of that time, she had been sick. She had been through something like a training program about him. She felt as if she'd known him for months, not weeks.

In the back of her mind, getting pregnant had been something that only happened to other girls. Silver talking about it made it connect in her head that she was female, and everything down there worked perfectly fine. It was entirely possible for that to happen. She was _eighteen_. Getting pregnant wasn't an option. "You're right…"

Silver worked hard to keep his eyes on hers, it had been a couple minutes since she'd spoken. "Keri?"

"Hmm?" Even though she agreed, she couldn't help looking at him… the muscles in his chest and stomach weren't too big, but she could still trace their thin lines, still visible...

Silver was still hard, and the very-very-close-to-naked girl to his right wasn't helping him calm down. One of the stitches in his hand had broken, but he couldn't feel it bleeding. Had that only happened a week ago? He should probably get them removed. He could see the edge of her nipple…

"Get dressed. Now."

.~.~.~.~.~

"Grandpa! How many times have I told you to treat guests nicely!"

Madison Briney stood with her hands on her hips, back from her trip to Petalburg, Mr. Briney jabbing Nathan in the stomach with his cane. Detective Rain stared at them from his chair, able to see the door by turning his head sharply. "Help me! Your grandfather has had me tied to this stupid chair for four days! My feet are asleep!"

Madison sighed and moved Warrens cane, leading her boyfriend into the shack. She had had her mind set on sex with her soon-to-be husband, and had been very upset to find her grandfather, and a stranger who was tied to a chair, inside.

"Yeah yeah. Nathan, you know where the knives are, cut him loose. Don't bother trying to untie those knots."

She walked to the store room, where a phone was hanging on the wall. She dialed the number. It rang… again… a third time… finally someone picked up. "Hello?"

"Petalburg Old Folks Home?"

"That's us! What do you need?"

"This is Madison Briney, my Grandfather escaped… _again_."

"No, no we had to send him home. He's been harassing the other patients again, we just can't take it anymore. There isn't any real reason he can't live alone anyway, he can feed himself and knows what's going on."

"That's not the point!"

"What is the point then?"

"The point is that he was lost at sea for three weeks! We spent _days_ hunting him down. He thinks he can just sail off whenever he wants, his mind isn't as sharp as it used to be. We can't have him out here by himself!"

"You're obviously out 'there'."

"_HE LIVES IN A HUT!_" She glared at the phone. Her grandfather was loosing it, and while he was still a very good sailor, _he had no clue where he was going_.

"Mam, we cannot take him back. You'll just have to find another nursing home, or take care of him yourself… Oh not again! I need to go!" Madison heard her shout something about birds as she set the phone in it's receiver.

She sighed as she set the phone down. Time to start on those renovations that she'd been planning on for a few months. The Briney's owned about a third of the beach, she had plenty of room to expand it into a house, maybe add an upstairs that she could turn into an art studio for Nathan.

She jumped slightly as the boy grabbed her shoulders, rubbing them. "Too bad it wasn't _you_ tied to that chair." He whispered, kissing the side of her neck, just under her ear.

"Nathan!" She turned to him, a slight glare. "We do have a guest, and that _is _my grandfather out there." She couldn't help smiling as she whispered it.

He grinned. And they walked back into the other room.

"Thanks for untying me. Do you have anything to eat that isn't over ten years old?" He was looking through a cupboard above the small stove.

"There should be some ramen we could boil…"

The detective was starving, the old man had given him some food, from the back. It hadn't been bad, but he really just wanted some real food, not beans and fake ham.

"Look, why don't you sit down and I'll make some food. Then you can tell me what you're doing here. I'm really not interested in waiting for you to find everything yourself."

He nodded, and sat on the couch. Mr. Briney was poking at that boy with his cane, scolding him and talking about what he had better do to take care of his granddaughter. Nathan knew his lines. He'd been given this speech thirty times now, between the old man and her father.

"Yes. I get it. I'm going to be married to her in a few months! I love her, yes I promise! I keep the ring on a chain, see? No, it's because that way it can be closer to my heart, and I don't want to get paint on it. I _never_ take it off. Yes, the chain is waterproof…"

Detective Rain laughed to himself a little. The poor boy had been interrogated so many times he wasn't hardly paying attention. The Detectives mind wandered to Michael and the other two, they must still be in Petalburg, but why?

.~.~.~.~.~

They could finally see the hut. Silver and Keri were walking together, Silver had sent out his Poochyena and was letting it tackle bird Pokemon. Keri had brushed out the Slackoth back at the center, and now it seemed much better, it's coat free of dirt. The Pokemon seemed happier too. She was still a little unsure about it, but let it hang from her shoulders, hoping Silver was right. It wasn't so bad while it was asleep. And it didn't smell anymore, nit since she'd given it the bath.

Michael was walking out front a ways, chatting to the Zigzagoon perched on his head. Every so often it made a noise, as if to agree with him. He seemed to have adopted the creature as a pet.

"I wonder how the Detective is doing, and why he didn't come looking for us."

"My guess is that he ended up in trouble somewhere. I mean, he sent _Michael_ after us."

Keri glared at him. "You know, we would be in another hospital if he wasn't around."

"Touché, although he's still a little… out there."

"It looks like the door to the shack is open."

"Probably because _it is_ open." Silver rolled his eyes, then smiled at her.

Keri leaned over and grabbed his hand, sticking her tongue out at him. "Be nice, or I'll never let you go."

Silver stopped, leaning in close to her ear. "And why would that be such a bad thing…?" He whispered.

Keri flushed, and kept walking. Silver set his face into its smirk, just because he was with Keri didn't mean that he wanted to constantly be around other people. He could see several other people in the shack, and frowned. If they were Team Rocket…

Michael walked into the shack, Keri and Silver following shortly behind, returning their pokemon. Silver was still paranoid, Keri stopped him and knocked on the open door.

Madison turned to see the three, Michael standing just inside, Silver and Keri framed in the door. "You may as well come in, but you'll have to sit on the floor."

Michael wasted no time in sitting down, leaning against the refrigerator. Keri released Silvers hand and made her way over to the table, that had been shoved back into the wall. She sat on it, looking at the girl across from her.

"Wait! You're that girl!"

They said it at almost exactly the same time. Silver walked inside, and leaned against the wall next to Keri. The shack _was not_ made for this many people to hang out in.

"Which means I was right. That _is_ Silver."

Silver tensed at his name, zeroing in on the boy, who shifted uncomfortably. Silver looked away. This whole situation made him nervous, large groups of people were easy to target.

"We saw you at the Hot Spring! Nathan thought you were up to no good." She looked at Keri, she didn't seem uncomfortable around the boy at all.

"I heard." Silver said it coldly. He was used to Keri, and could deal with Michael, but he didn't know anyone else in there except for the Detective, who he really just didn't like.

The two shared a glance. "Sorry." They said it at the same time.

Keri looked up at him. He was acting cold again. He glanced down at her, locking eyes for a second. Just because he liked her, didn't mean that he liked everyone.

"So why are you here?" Keri decided to just make some sort of conversation, before the silence got awkward.

"I'm Mr. Briney's granddaughter. Detective Rain here explained what you're doing here, and as soon as you're ready we could probably leave, it sounds like the sooner you get out there the better. Team Rocket activity has been getting worse by the day."

Silver nodded. "We should probably get going then."

"Great. The boats are hidden in a small cave, we had some people messing with them a while ago and had to hide both. I'll be back in a little while." She stood up, walking out the open door of the shack.

It was quiet for a little while. Mr. Briney had fallen asleep, his Pokemon on his head. Silver finally sighed, yawning a little. "Does anyone want to battle while waiting for her to get back? This shack is smaller than a holding cell."

Keri was about to, but then she remembered her Pokemon. Slackoth still needed training. Her Wailmer wasn't for battling, more for transportation. And she'd liked the Pokemon. She figured that Scyther would be okay, but the boy stood up before she could open her mouth to say anything. "I'll battle you. Two on Two."

Keri became a little worried, the Degrade probably hadn't fully affected them yet, but his Pokemon would be weaker. And it was _her fault_… Keri ground her teeth, she would just have to deal with it later.

Nathan was curious, he'd heard about Silvers battling skills. Many said he was cruel to his pokemon, others said that he wasn't bad to them, but seemed a little hard on them.

"Fine. I'm going to use Feraligatr and Poochyena."

"Smeargle and Manectric."

"I'll judge then." Detective Rain carefully stood up, making sure not to wake the old man next to him.

Silver walked outside, everyone else followed, except for Mr. Briney.

The Detective stood in the sand, looking at the two standing on either side of him. "Two on two, no switching out. Once a Pokemon has been returned to its Pokéball, it may not be sent out again. No items, held items are permitted."

He backed up, clearing the field. He lifted his arm, then swung it downwards, "Begin!"

Silver sent his Pokéball out spinning, Feraligatr flashing out with a low growl.

"Manectrec! Quick Attack!" Nathan threw out his Pokéball, and the Pokemon flashed out running, darting towards the gator, almost invisible.

"Dodge it and hit it." The dog darted straight at the water type, and suddenly it wasn't there, and it was being thrown through the air. Feraligatr had slammed his tail into the Pokemon, taking a step to the side as it leaped to attack him.

"Thunder Fang!" His Pokemon ran, zigzagging towards its opponent.

"Dig."

Feraligatr disappeared underground.

"Follow it! Shockwave!"

The electric type dove into the hole.

"Now Feraligatr! The ocean!"

Nathans eyes grew wide as Silvers Pokemon burst out of the ocean, water filling the hole that his Pokemon was in. He hadn't thought Silver would do something like _that._

He ran to the hole, he could see his Pokemon struggling to get orientated. "Return."

The beam captured the struggling Pokemon and dragged it out of the water and into the safety of the Pokéball. "That was a nasty trick."

"It was a strategy. Why would you send your electric type under ground with a water type? It's suicide, the hole could easily be filled with water several other ways, I just figured the ocean would give it a better chance of escaping than being pounded with Hydro Pump. If you hadn't sent it under, I still would have had Feraligatr attack from the water, just to surprise you. You have to take in your whole environment."

Nathan was _seven years older_. He'd been training his Pokemon since he was sixteen! He ground his teeth. "How long have you been battling?"

"I learned when I was six, I've been training since I was twelve. Feraligatr, return." The beam spiraled out and transformed the Pokemon into light, transporting it into the ball.

"With a stolen Pokemon."

"That never was proven. Go Poochyena." The black and silver puppy appeared.

"True. So what brought you here? To Hoenn? Go Smeargle!" The Pokemon appeared, swinging its aqua tipped tail.

"I needed a break, I can never catch one. Bite!"

The dark type ran forward, growling. "Ariel ace!"

The Smeargle darted forward, invisible to the naked eye, and hit Poochyena. The Pokemon was hurt, but still managed to latch onto the Smeargles hind leg for a second, causing it to yelp.

The two Pokemon stared each other down for a second… "tackle!"

Smeargle was hit head on, and flew back a foot, but landed on its feet. "Karate Chop!"

"Howl and Bite, meet it!" The Poochyena ran forward, letting out a long howl, its fangs glowing black. The Smeargle darted past it, hitting the Pokemon in the back with a glowing orange paw.

Poochyena yelped, falling face first into the sand. It snarled, and got to its feet, shaking slightly. Keri watched, impressed with his skill with the new Pokemon. It had taken a couple of hard hits, but even with the degrade in it's system, it still seemed fine.

"Double team!" Smeargle seemed to vibrate for a second, then six others appeared, circling it.

"Odor Sleuth!" Poochyena sniffed the air, searching for the Smeargle, then turned its nose to the ground, confused. "yena?"

"Get out of there now!" It was too late.

"Ariel Ace!" The Pokemon seemed to melt out of the sand as it slashed the dark type, sending it flying. The Pokemon was knocked out.

Detective Rain had forgotten that he was supposed to be judging, and was staring at the Smeargle.

Silver looked at it in surprise, then sighed, returning it to it's Pokéball. "That's an interesting set of moves."

"Ariel Ace, Double Team, Karate Chop, and Transform. The last one gets everyone. What level is that Poochyena at?"

"Seventeen. I captured it out by Rusturbo a few days ago."

"Only level seventeen?" Nathan couldn't believe it. His Smeargle was ten higher. What had the trainer been thinking? How was the Pokemon so strong at such a low level?

"I'm positive your ears work." Silver smirked. The Smeargle had been a lot stronger, but Poochyena had done well, better than he'd expected. He was glad he'd decided to catch it. The battle had been good experience for it, but he would have to work on it's speed a little. He used a potion on the waking Pokemon, and returned it to its Pokéball.

"Yes, sorry, but my Smeargle…"

"I know. Poochyena needs the training. Detective Rain seems to have forgotten to declare you the winner." He wasn't upset about loosing. He would have won if he'd wanted to. The first battle was to determine his opponents strength, the second to train Poochyena. If his goal had been to knock out Nathans Pokemon immediately, two or three moves on each of them from Feraligatr would have been more than enough.

"Oops…" The detective stood.

"Did my Fiancé just beat you?" Madison appeared from behind the shack.

"Yes." Silver rolled his eyes.

"Only because he returned his Feraligatr. He wanted to train his new Pokemon." Nathan wasn't sure weather he was happy or felt cheated. He supposed it was better than his Pokemon being badly hurt by the other trainers, but still wondered just how strong they were.

"Only because! Oh come on! You won, celebrate a little. Or at least get on the boat."

"What's going on? Why is everyone outside, why didn't any of you wake me up!" Mr. Briney walked out of the hut, waving his cane around.

"We were just getting ready to leave, Silver and Nathan had a battle grandpa. Nathan won, isn't that great?"

The old man rolled his eyes. "Yes, wonderful. You did get the big boat I hope, only three will fit in the other."

"Yes grandpa, I got the big boat. Could you go and make sure it's properly stocked?"

"I know you're just trying to get rid of me. There still isn't much space on that one, I'll get the extra hammocks." The old man walked back into the hut.

"He seems to be in a better mood." Keri stated, watching them.

"He always is when we're going out to sea. It's like he becomes a whole different person."

Silver walked over, Nathan and the Detective following shortly behind. Nathan walked over to Madison and kissed her lightly on the lips. "Missed you."

The detective kept walking, towards the boat.

Keri blushed, watching them. It faded as she heard a shout from the hut. "Ow! Hey! Look I just-!"

Michael ran out the door, a pile of cloth in his arms. "Look, I'm bored! I'm used to working in a _hospital_! I have to be allowed to do _something_!"

"You just think I can't carry things myself because I'm old, well I'll-"

"I PROMISE YOU I DON'T. My god, If I didn't think you could carry anything I would have been dragging you to the boat, not helping you find the damned things!" He glared at the old man and stomped off down the beach, he could see the boat a little ways off. The Zigzagoon perched on his head looked a little worried. Michael missed the hospital. Going off on this adventure had seemed great and exciting before, but now all he wanted to do was go back to the hospital and take care of people. He had probably been fired.

"I think he just lost it…" Keri watched his retreating form.

"And grew a spine." Silver said.

"Oh I seem to have upset him… I'll go help him set up the hammocks." Mr. Briney walked off slowly, following Michael.

"We had all better get going. Is there anything that anyone needs?" Madison asked, looking at each of them.

"I have everything I need, assuming you have Pokemon food on the boat." Keri said, shifting her backpack on her shoulders.

"Same here." Silver stood next to her.

"We do have Pokemon food on the boat, and people food. Just in case you were worried." Keri smiled. Silver rolled his eyes, frowning slightly.

"We'll head to the boat then." She and Silver began walking towards it. It didn't look very big, she hoped that it really was large enough for all seven of them.

Madison smiled as they walked away. "So her name is Keri."

Nathan sighed. "You know, he's a lot… calmer, than what most people say. That Silver kid."

Madison laughed. "It probably has something to do with that girl he's hanging out with. Come on, the faster we get rid of them on that island, the faster we can do what we _really_ want to." She winked at him, and walked away, glancing back as he ran after her.

XOX

Nathan and Madison are both 26. They aren't really major characters, but they'll be around. Thought you aught to know how old they are.

Sorry about that little tease at the beginning there, but did you seriously think that Silver wouldn't think it through? He's a little more mature than her, and while I get it that a lot of guys don't usually think past 'Look! Boobs!' (Apologies to any boys who are reading this and are more mature than that.) I do believe that a few of them can make decisions past what their body is urging them to do. Silver has a tendency to use the brain under all that gorgeous red hair.

You know, I've actually had a really crappy time, so I'm surprised I got this chapter done as quickly as usual. I can't find my preorder thing or the receipt for Soul Silver anywhere. If I don't find it, that's five bucks down the drain. I was really looking forward to it too.

If you find any grammar or spelling mistakes, please tell me so I can fix them.

Thanks to Wolfstar-Wolfy-Hollyleaf for reviewing on all four previous Chapters.

Thanks to Frozen Cold and xUNGracefulxAssassin for reviewing Chapter Four.

Thanks to sierrap 123 for reviewing Chapters One, Three, and Four.

Just a little information, I will be placing that warning above this chapter for the rest of the chapters, and telling you what the chapter is rated personally, but the rating of M is permanent.


	6. Chapter 6

CHAPTER SIX

It was raining. Not a heavy rain, just a light one, but it was still enough to keep everyone below the deck. Keri was in the bathroom, staring down at the little screen of her phone. She was tempted to just throw it in the ocean.

Five days, for her to defeat his Pokemon. She clenched the device in her fist. She knew it was coming. She couldn't just ignore it, she had to reply.

'Traveling on the ocean. Pokemon are still being worked on by degrade. Will send update in three days.'

Hopefully that would be enough time to buy some more. She sighed and turned it off, slipping it into the pocket of her backpack. She had been changing into sweat pants and a sweatshirt, when she'd noticed the phone, remembering that she was supposed to send in her status.

Most trainers didn't have a cell phone, very few people in general had one. The one she had on her was issued by Team Rocket, so that she could easily communicate if something had gone wrong. The problem was, nothing had.

And if anyone found the phone, there was only one number in it. She sighed and dragged the backpack out into the main part of the boat. Detective Rain was writing something, seated at one of the two small tables. Michael had gone to sleep in his hammock, Keri suspected that his body was finally catching up with everything he did at the hospital. Unfortunately having so little to do seemed to be driving him crazy. Madison and Nathan were curled up next to each other, on the floor under some blankets, listening to a small radio. Madison had let her grandfather have the controls, so he was up driving the boat, hopefully in the right direction. Silver was reading, about half done with that book now. She wondered if anyone was missing it.

"I'm going to go up on deck, before the rain gets bad. I need to get some fresh air, it feels a little stuffy down here."

It _was_ a little packed, you could either sit at one of the two tiny bolted down tables in a bolted down chair, stay in your hammock, or sit on the floor. There wasn't much room on the floor. Keri grabbed one of the raincoats hanging by the stairs and walked up, feeling the cool sprinkle on her face. The sky was gray, but it didn't look like there would be a storm for a while. She could see the sun shining dimly through the clouds.

Keri walked to the front and leaned against the rail, looking out. The sea matched the sky, gray and wet. She glared at the water. What was she doing? She'd never asked herself before, but now she wondered what exactly she _had _been doing. She had joined team rocket at thirteen years old. Okay. Easy enough. Looked like a good thing to do at the time.

Her parents had died in a fire, in their apartment, leaving her orphaned at fifteen. Difficult, hard to deal with, but there were people around her who at least pretended to care, and things to take her emotions out on.

At sixteen, she had decided that she wanted to quit Team Rocket, and had been working as hard as she possibly could to get that tattoo removed. She'd finally gotten it removed six months ago, making her prefect for this one last mission.

Now she was almost free, and didn't want it. Her body knew what it wanted, her soul knew what it needed, but her mind was twisting, confused. Still trying so hard for that freedom she knew she couldn't have now... She laughed. She was trapped inside her own head! Every part of herself warring with what it wanted. How could she be with the boy who she was supposed to be turning in?! How could she _not be_?

She took a step back from herself, and looked at everything as if she were a different person, looking at her life like it were a movie. She was on this boat now, traveling to an island, her life had taken a sudden twist, and she wanted something she had never truly considered before. And that something was making footsteps on the sodden deck, leaning against the railing next to her.

And she snapped back, every emotion in her body colliding again. She missed her parents, she wanted out, she wanted him. She was confused, what could she possibly do? She was angry that she couldn't make up her mind, and she was horrified to have found herself crying. Silver lightly touched the small of her back. "Are you okay?"

She stared at him for a second, as if he weren't really there, then buried her head in his shoulder and cried.

Silver blinked down at her. This was completely out of his league, what the hell was he supposed to do? He didn't even know what was wrong! He ground his teeth slightly, awkwardly wrapping an arm around the girl. She always seemed to be getting herself in a mess, weather falling out of trees, getting attacked or getting food poisoning, or just crying for some unfathomable godforsaken reason! What was next? A Sharpedo attack? He was frustrated with himself, and with her. He didn't know what to do, he was completely out of control, and she had just randomly burst into tears!

Keri was finally able to control herself after a few minutes, and took a deep breath, backing up and leaning against the railing. "Sorry."

What on earth was he supposed to say? What was she sorry for exactly? Ruining his shirt? "What was that?"

Probably wasn't quite the right thing, but it's what came out of his mouth.

"That was stupid." She muttered, glaring out at the waves.

He had no clue how to respond. He sighed, and leaned against the rail, looking out at the water. "Keri, I have no clue how to talk to you. I don't talk to people, I insult them and walk away. So calling yourself stupid isn't helping me."

He hadn't meant to sound harsh, or cold, he just really didn't know what to do. Having someone to care about was infuriating. He had no clue how to handle half the situations he was in.

She just shook her head, sighing. "I'm just worried, about Team Rocket, about you," that was true, at least she was telling part of the truth. Leaving out details and saying _something_ was better than saying nothing at all. _Right_? "I miss my parents."

She couldn't help leaning against him. It was quiet, the rain dripped almost silently, muffled, onto the deck. Water lapped at the sides of the boat, making its way up the hull only to be forced down by physics, repeating, over and over, like a timer, like a clock.

Silver stroked her hair absentmindedly, it was nice. Just standing here. This wasn't frustrating, or confusing, it just was. Two people watching the water… he'd never been part of 'two people' before. It was an odd sensation for him.

He knew that he cared for the girl, but his feelings were still a little mixed. He barely knew her, she had just been some stupid girl up until a few days ago. Now he was stroking her hair, eyes shut, breathing in the scent of the sea and trying to learn how to do _something_ for her. How was a guy supposed to do that? Was it instinct, how did Nathan do it? He had to admit that he was a little jealous of the two, Madison and Nathans relationship came so easy, and he was left confused. Had he really kissed Keri like that yesterday morning?

He could still feel her warm body against his. Like a dream, when you wake up and can still feel the cold on your skin, or the grip of someone's hand on your wrist, it was still there.

Keri leaned her head against his shoulder. "What are you thinking about?"

"Yesterday morning… it was… something." He still had his eyes shut. Trying to figure out what he was supposed to do. His emotions had been so out of control that morning, it had been terrifying and relieving, suddenly no control, like jumping out of an airplane, letting the air and wind take control of your body, being at their mercy, then pulling the chute at the last second, your brain jolting, and knowing that you were really in control the whole time. He had jumped out of an airplane once…

He felt her move away from him, and opened his eyes to tell her what was on his mind, that he hadn't meant _that_, when her lips melted the words right off them. Hadn't this girl been crying her eyes out just a few minuets ago!?

He couldn't help holding onto her, his mouth moving at the same time as hers, each heartbeat marking the seconds between each slight movement, her mouth opened slightly, and he slipped his tongue in. He traced the inside of her lips, and she slid her tongue along his.

This was easy. Pure raw emotion with everything else melting away, nothing more to focus on than her touch, the feeling of her mouth on his, his tongue tracing the inside of her mouth, the blood pounding in his ears as she rubbed against him… this was only the easy part… if only this were the hard part… breathing, taking short breaths before plunging back in, into that mind numbing world of pure feeling, touch. Her fingers sliding up into his hair…

Silvers hand made its way down her back… back up her shirt, wrapped around her, hand rubbing its way up her side… Silver finally out his tongue back in his own mouth, and Keri moved hers into his, slowly tracing the line of his lips first. Her head buzzed, each tiny sensation… she rubber her tongue under his, sliding it to the edge of his throat, his twined around hers.

.~.~.~.~.~

"What's going on up there that's got _you_ so excited?" The blond had been staring up the periscope for five minutes now. Her partner was getting agitated.

"The girl, who's been chasing Silver around? She's _our _informant, right?" The blond turned away from the scope, to the black haired girl next to her.

"Yeah, she's been trailing him. Says that the Degrade hasn't quite kicked in yet, why?"

"_Our __informant__ is __making out __with our __target_."

The black haired girl pushed the blond to the side, staring up the periscope. They were lucky, it had been a gray day. If the water had been clear they would have had to stay back half a mile. The small gray submarine whirred along beside the boat… "Oh my God. You're right. It looks like they've been glued together."

"So what do you think about it? Could it be her plan?" The blond stretched her hands behind her back.

"It might be hers, it might be Giovanni's. Maybe she decided to go AWOL on us. It's impossible to tell as long as she keeps updating. I have to admit though, I'm jealous." The girl with black hair glared at the periscope.

"Get that tattoo removed, like she did. I bet you're not stupid enough to though."

"I have no interest in ending up dead, if that's what you mean. I'm just saying, I mean, Silver _is_ pretty hot…… We should probably send a report in."

"Don't. I want to see how this goes. You know that asshole always has a backup plan anyway. If she fails one part of her mission, he'll have someone or something there to make sure it goes his way. He's really pulled out all the stops for just this one kid though. Makes me wonder." The blond rolled her knuckles against the side of a plastic chair.

"Wonder what? Who cares, we do this, and we get to spend a month in Fiore brainwashing cute rangers." She pressed her eyes to the periscope again, even if that girl screwed up, they would be there to take them both out.

.~.~.~.~.~

Detective Rain stepped quietly back down the stairs. "I don't think they're interested in lunch."

Michael was still snoring. Madison and Nathan looked up, she had made a couple frozen pizzas in the small oven in the boat, she was pulling the second one out, he was cutting the other. "Why on earth not?"

The Detective raised his eyebrows. "You honestly don't have to be a Detective to figure it out. They're far more interested in eating something else… to put it bluntly. I have a feeling they'll be in in a few minutes anyway though.

Madison looked a little confused. "I thought you said that they weren't really together, like they were pretending or something."

"It's one of those rare occasions where I'm wrong. He left for that Pokécenter not giving a damn about any of us, and came back staring at her like he'd never seen her before. You were there more than me, _you_ put it together." He grabbed a piece of pizza off the small counter and sat down on the floor, leaning against the side of his chair.

Madison grinned, and began to slice up the other pizza. When she was done she spoke. "We'll just have to embarrass them a little then. Until they spit it out."

The Detective looked up from the hot slice of pepperoni, and rolled his eyes. "Are you serious? Have you _seen_ Silver? He's a psychotic murderer waiting to happen." He took another bite of pizza.

"_Who's_ a psychotic murderer waiting to happen?" Silver was standing on the other side of the chair, arms crossed, and a highly amused smirk on his face. His hair was soaked, they could hear the rain pounding steadily on the deck. Nathan had seen the boy walk down just as Detective Rain had begun speaking.

The Detective jumped, choking on his food slightly. "MY GOD! How the hell are you so quiet?!"

"I took my shoes off before coming down. I would love to know about this psycho you're talking about though, go on." He frowned at the man, every bit of him looking completely serious.

Keri was laughing so hard she couldn't breathe, she sat down on the steps. The man looked like he was going to have a heart attack!

Nathan and Madison were laughing, but not quite as hard. They couldn't tell how serious he really was. Michael woke up, looking at everyone. "What?"

Keri had tears streaming down her face now, she was laughing so hard. What was with the emotional roller coaster lately?

"Right, we should stop patronizing the Detective, and eat some lunch." Madison brought over a large cutting board and set it on the table, latching it down with clamps.

"Too bad _they_ already ate," He said, jabbing a thumb in the direction of the two. He'd been trailing Team rocket longer than they'd been training. He refused to be embarrassed by this boy. A second later he felt awful, that had been a horrible thing to do!

Keri flushed, she could feel the heat rushing into her face, the last of her laughter dying on her lips. She buried her head in her arms, hiding her face. What was wrong with him!? What was wrong with her? Why should she be embarrassed about being with him…?

It hadn't been her choice, their choice, to let them know. She hadn't been expecting it. She could have pretended that she didn't know what he was talking about, but her obviously red face had probably given everything away right there. And she was crying again!

How many times today was she going to cry! Why the hell was she crying! There was nothing for her to do about it now. She noticed that everyone else was as silent as could be, not a single word uttered.

The Detective had no clue what had come over him. Some stupid bout of childishness, acting like some sort of jealous eighth grader again! And now she was crying… He hadn't meant to make anyone cry.

He stood up to apologize.

Silver Glared at him for half a second, and let his fist fly.

Keri looked up at the sound of the crack, and saw the detective on the floor, nose bleeding, Silver glaring down at him.

It had been a good hit, he felt the cartilage in his nose snap, and he was on the floor. As soon as the room stopped spinning… "I beserd dat."

He winced as he spoke, the entire side of his face would be a very nice shade of purple in the morning, he was sure. The inside of his cheek was bleeding where his teeth had cut through the skin.

"You deserve a lot more than that." Silver growled. He didn't care that what he'd said was what had made her cry. She was crying, and for some reason, it was _his_ fault.

Now he felt useless _and_ angry, unsure how to comfort her, angry at Detective Rain for making her cry. This combination of emotions was toxic for him. The blood was rushing through his ears, and he knew that _he had to get out_. Someone would get hurt much worse if he didn't.

He wanted to hurt them. He wanted to kill someone. Tears were not worth killing over.

The boy grabbed his backpack, and ran up the stairs past Keri, unzipping it and pulling out Feraligatrs Pokéball, throwing it over the water. Keri ran up after him, just in time to see him jump onto his Pokemons back in the pounding rain. He was off, away from the boat, the waves were slightly harsher than before, but the water type cut through them with ease.

Her Wailmer wouldn't be able to take her out there. It was still too young, only used to calm water. Where was he going?

Madison walked up the stairs, still a little confused about what had just happened. She touched Keri lightly on the shoulder. "Come on. You're getting soaked."

Keri turned around with her and went into the boat.

Her clothes were soaked through. There was no wearing those anymore, not today. She just sighed, and decided to put on her pajamas, pulling them out of the backpack. She stripped off her soaking wet clothes, not even bothering to replace her underwear before putting on the pajamas. She sighed. They were warm, quickly replacing the heat that had been leaving her body. She stuffed the wet clothes in a plastic bag and began to zip up her backpack, when she noticed the phone blinking.

They never replied back that fast.

She opened it.

"Target just abandoned ship. WTHH?"

Oh God.

They were watching them.

XOX

And end Chapter Six.

WTHH is What The Hell Happened, for those of you as illiterate in chat as I am.

One of these days, I'm going to have to write a chapter that ends nicely, instead of leaving poor Keri a mess. I feel like I keep writing the same thing over and over. I'll have to fix that.

Sorry this chapter wasn't as long as the others. Where it ended is where it needed to end.

And sorry about the cliffhanger, I would say that I'd try to update with the next earlier than usual, but I've been submitting a new chapter almost every other day. (Please correct me if I'm wrong, and I'll put up the next chapter tomorrow.)

If you find any grammar or spelling mistakes, please tell me where they are, so I can fix them.

Thanks to Wolfstar-Wolfy-Hollyleaf for reviewing Chapters One, Two, Three, and Four.

Thanks to Frozen Cold for reviewing Chapter Four.

Thanks to xUNGracefulxAssassin for reviewing Chapters Four and Five.

Thanks to sierrap123 for reviewing Chapters One, Three, Four, and Five.

Thanks to RedHerring1290 for reviewing Chapter Five.


	7. Chapter 7

CHAPTER SEVEN

She didn't sleep at all that night.

Not a wink.

Knowing that they were out there, somehow watching her, watching him. She had replied after picking up her phone off the bathroom floor, after the shock had died down enough. She had told them most of the truth, that he'd gotten angry and punched Detective Rain in the face. She'd told them that if Silver wasn't back by morning, she would go after him. If they knew that she and Silver were on the boat, they knew that the detective was too.

She twitched at every noise.

Madison, in the hammock next to her, moved in her sleep slightly, just a jerk of the arm, or a turn of the head every now and then.

Michael snored. Not too loud, but still loud enough to hear, in a hammock across the room.

The Detective was sleeping on the floor. She wasn't sure if he was asleep, he didn't move, didn't snore, but his breathing was even, at least. The bruise under his eye had been steadily growing. It was very clear that his nose was broken badly. He'd fallen out of the hammock twice before deciding to sleep there.

Mr. Briney was still in the control room, so was Nathan. He'd gone up there to keep an eye out for Silver and make sure that the old man got some sleep while they were at anchor.

She dozed every now ant then, only to start awake.

Images of Silver flashed through her head. Where was he?

He had hurt someone. She knew that he did it, she knew that he had somehow hurt that man in the ally, but she hadn't seen it. Somehow that made it surreal.

Seeing the raw anger in his eyes. Detective Rain on the floor, bleeding. Part of that had terrified her.

She had seen worse. She had done worse.

Seeing it from him though… usually he was so cold.

He had been on fire.

His eyes flashing with it, she couldn't get it out of her mind. The way he'd seemed to become something else entirely, completely out of control.

She shuddered slightly, carefully sitting up in the hammock and wrapping her arms around her knees. She wished she had something to lean her back against.

Madison woke, looking at the girl in the hammock next to hers. She was staring, holding her knees, almost rocking. "Are you okay?"

Keri jumped slightly. "What gave it away?" She said dryly, just staring blankly at her.

"No need to be sarcastic. I was thinking about making some tea. It sounds like the rain has stopped."

Keri nodded. Tea sounded good. With milk.

She got up after Madison, looking around the little space, blanked draped on her shoulders. She needed to pull herself together, she was acting like a little kid.

.~.~.~.~.~

Silver stared up at the sky. It had cleared up finally, and he was soaked to the bone. Still.

It had been a few hours… maybe about six? Seven?

He never should have gone traveling with anyone. Being in a group had never ended well for him. He shivered.

Why had he even let her follow him? He glared out at the light of the stars. Thousands of people in the world to meet, and it had to have been her.

Going back to the boat wasn't an option. He'd physically attacked an officer. Let his anger get the better of him.

Anger was a weakness. It was hard, impossible, to completely control.

He didn't need them. On the boat? The longer you were around people, the more attached you got to them. Getting attached to people wasn't something he needed to do.

'Too bad!' his mind told him. Yeah, way too bad. He stared at the four little crescent marks in his left hand.

He'd gotten angry. And using that anger, he'd made the decision to hurt someone else. Someone who didn't really deserve what he'd gotten. He only hurt people who deserved it.

The Detective had said something childish.

That did not warrant being punched in the face and getting a broken nose.

And no matter what had gone on two hundred years ago, the tears of a girl were not something to get mad enough to kill over. He had been stupid.

Whatever. It didn't matter. He would island hop with Crobat until he got back to the mainland. Then he would take a boat out to Orre. Team Rocket hadn't bothered with it's barren landscape yet, and he'd heard that the Pokemon out there were tough. Plus the transport was cheap.

He glanced in the direction he had come. He knew where the boat was, to the South East. Or maybe not. What direction had he been going when he left?

Stupid decision after stupid decision! Everything in his pack was soaked, and there probably wasn't anything out here for miles. How far had he traveled? Nine, ten miles? Maybe ten at the most. He didn't have anything to drink, and most of the food in his pack has more sodium than what was healthy.

The only thing to do was to try and make his way to Dewford, or wait for the sun to come up and let it leech the moisture out of his body. He never had liked waiting.

"Crobat, there's a large island to the south. It should be easy to see." Silver made sure that the Pokemon was listening.

It responded with a small "Cro!"

"Good. I want you to take my pack, swimming with it on would be a nightmare." The Pokemon looked at him in confusion for a minute, then grabbed the pack in its teeth.

"Now go. Wait in the town, on the roof of its Pokécenter until I get there." He'd put on the swimsuit he'd gotten at the Hot Spring, he was glad to find it had a pocket, and a latch for Feraligatrs Pokéball. The Pokemon was exhausted, and needed rest, so it couldn't carry him very far, but if there was an emergency the Pokemon would be useful.

He was already soaked, and swimming at night would be better than waiting for morning, when the sun would make him tire more easily. The exercise would give him something to concentrate on.

He couldn't help thinking about her though, as he dove into the water. He had made a decision to acknowledge his feelings. Now what did he do with them? It was a lot harder to lock them up than it was to let them loose.

He'd lost control, that _could not happen_. If he couldn't control himself, then how could he take out Team Rocket? He shoved her to the back of his mind, knowing that he wouldn't actually forget her for long.

He focused on the water ahead of him, following the black speck that was Crobat.

.~.~.~.~.~

They had finally decided to follow Silver. The blond was on watch, keeping an eye on the boy as he swam. "Guess he forgot to check his location before leaving. Wonder why he did that."

"Keri told us that he punched that asshole Rain in the face, and you're wondering why he abandoned ship? Rain knows who he is, he'll probably give the kid to the police as soon as we're out of Hoenn." The girl with black hair was drawing something, leaning back on the small bed.

"Hey, I was wondering something."

The girl with black hair put down her pencil and turned to the blond. "What?"

"We're trailing them now that they've gotten in the water. And our main focus is Silver. He's alone, and has only one of his Pokemon, which is obviously exhausted. Why can't we just take him out now?"

"Don't be stupid. Giovanni has a plan, and that Feraligatr of his could take anything we threw at it, exhausted or not. Our job is to shoot and collect, don't complicate things."

The blond rolled her eyes. "You just want to see what's going on with Keri and that brat. I told you it looked interesting."

"Oh shut up. It could be important to the plan if he thinks she loves him. Do you have any idea how much easier it is to catch people who have someone to care about?"

"Viox, this isn't a movie. You know that he'd kill us in a heartbeat, just like he killed Jason. In the movies the bad guys always loose!"

"Good thing this isn't a movie, then."

.~.~.~.~.~

"Trailing Target. Don't worry about following him, he's on course to Dewford."

Keri wasn't sure weather to be relieved or terrified. She had no clue who she was communicating with. It could be anyone. The message had been sent _hours_ ago.

The Pokécenters hotel was quiet, not many people staying there. She was sitting in the lobby, slowly drinking a cup of Coffee. She needed the caffeine, no way was she going to sleep if he was on course.

"Hi, mind if I sit?"

She glanced at the boy, who was sitting anyway, before she could even tell him that she _did_ mind. "Yes, in fact, I do."

"Why?"

"First of all, there's a _whole_ different couch you could sit on. Second of all, I'm waiting for someone, and he doesn't like other people, and has no issue with _making_ _them_ _move_."

The boy scooted down the couch, face flushing red.

They had all gotten rooms at the Pokécenter, not wanting to stay in the little boat any longer. It was well into noon now, and it was raining hard, all of the fishermen were coming in. Keri guessed the boy, now on the other side of the couch, probably had been out fishing with his father or something.

The door was pushed open, and Keri looked up to see Detective Rain soaked through, the bruise on his face impossible to miss. "Any sign of him?"

"No. Not one. I have to get out of these wet clothes, I'll be back."

Good. Now she could get away and go out to that cave. It was the first place he was sure to go, especially since it was raining. He'd had food in his backpack, and there was probably a spring in the cave.

She pulled on a raincoat and her backpack, walking out into the rain, the nurse looking at her like she was crazy. Keri figured that she probably was. Granite Cave would be the best place to find him, and she'd packed some extra supplies from the store. She would wait out there for him until morning, then go back to the center.

Her shoes were muffled against the sand, walking through the small town. She walked until all the buildings were gone, and she reached the empty beach.

She sat just in the shadow of the cave, waiting. She was warm, only the raincoat was wet. It began to rain harder, thunder and lightening cracking the sky. She hoped he wasn't out in this.

.~.~.~.~.~

Silver looked around, his flashlight making the walls around him visible. He had been lucky enough to find an abandoned cooler with a couple bottles of 'spring' water in it out in the ocean. That had been hours ago. He'd finished off the last drop… maybe two hours ago.

The rain had started, and he'd immediately gone into the cave, leaving himself a lifeline, an 'escape rope'. He'd tied it to a small stalactite neat the entrance.

Too bad he couldn't follow it back.

He switched off the flashlight and stared into the darkness. Someone would just have to find him.

He winced as his ankle throbbed. He'd somehow managed to fall off a ledge, and land on it funny. He was pretty sure that it was broken, at the least. He hoped it was broken, straining his ankle would mean spending _months_ off of it. Breaking a small bone would be easier to fix.

He pulled a small knife out of the pocket of his swimsuit, another stupid decision, he'd been full of those lately, and began carving invisible patterns in the rocky floor beneath him. What had he been thinking? Just walking around half naked and wet in a cave? He had been a lot warmer while moving around.

He was avoiding them.

That was the only explanation he could come up with for himself. It was a stupid explanation. He glared at the dark, little stars playing in front of his eyes, trying to make something out of the impenetrable black. He was disgusted with himself. Avoiding people was childish.

He thought about Keri.

If he left, if he never said a word to her again? How bad would that hurt?

He thought about himself. How many times had he told her to go away, to leave him alone, to stop talking? And now all he wanted was for her to be there. Saying _something_ in this stupid cave, at least he wouldn't have to wait for someone to come.

He shivered. What a stupid plan. He probably could have done better just waiting for a boat to pass by.

His ankle was throbbing, and he had probably caught hypothermia. He was shivering, which was a good thing, but he was beginning to get numb in his fingers, he could barely feel the cold in his toes anymore. At least he'd fallen into a rock wall he could lean against… and sliced his head open.

"Oh yeah. Add that to the list. Bleeding." He growled to himself, wiggling his fingers and the toes of his left foot.

"Complaining won't get me anywhere. I need to stop thinking about that, it's useless. Now come on, you've been in worse situations, what should I do…" 'I should stop talking to myself, it's ridiculous.' He had Feraligatr, but the Pokemon couldn't see in the dark like Crobat could, didn't have the echolocation. His rope was still in his hand, but he couldn't send the Pokemon to follow that. Feraligatr was smart, but if he lost the rope even once, they would both be screwed. The Pokemon couldn't fit up that hole he'd climbed down anyway.

The only way for him to get out of this was if someone came looking for him.

He'd probably die from the hypothermia before then.

.~.~.~.~.~

This had been a stupid idea. What would waiting for the boy out in the rain do? She paced the cave floor, trying to figure out what she had been thinking.

She had been thinking that knowing he was alive was more important than thinking something like this through. It had been a plan, and it was better than just sitting in the Pokécenter. She'd finally gotten her head together, at least partially, and wasn't going to just sit around doing nothing. Except, now, that was exactly what she was doing.

She tripped, and almost fell, only the side of the cave keeping her from falling. She glared at the item on the cave floor. It immediately clicked in her head. Escape rope. She began following it.

There was a hole, a long latter going down. Even if she didn't find anything, she would be able to get back. She grabbed the rope.

It took her an hour to get to him.

He hadn't heard her, humming loudly to himself to keep out the silence, and to keep himself awake. He liked the quiet, but this was too quiet, too muffling, strangling. He thought he must look ridiculous, holding his hands to his ears to keep out the quiet. He'd heard of people going crazy because of the silence in caves though, and had no interest in being one of the many cases. So he hummed like an idiot.

Keri accidentally tripped, not able to see the boy, but calling out softly to him.

He let out a sharp gasp and ground his teeth. She'd tripped over his leg, twisting the ankle. "What the hell!?"

"Sorry!" It was definitely him. "What happened?"

"Keri? I think I broke my ankle. And you just tripped over it, thanks." He couldn't see her.

"How did that happen?" She was still holding the rope.

Suddenly there was a light click, and the room was lit. "Tripped over that ledge there and landed funny. There's a nice hole in my head now too, although I think the bleeding stopped."

He looked awful. And freezing in just his swimsuit. "What the hell were you thinking?" never words she thought she would say to Silver.

"It's just another bad decision in a line of many. At least I'm not still in the ocean." His teeth chattered together on the last word, making it sound jittery. He clamped his jaw shut. His body shaking.

"You're going to freeze to death down here."

"Gee, thanks. I hadn't figured that out. Too bad there's no one here to do anything about it." He rolled his eyes.

"Take off your swimsuit."

The order threw him for a second, then he noticed Keri pulling an emergency blanket out her backpack.

He did as he was told, carefully pulling the shorts from around hisn ankle, wincing. She covered him with the blanket. Keri grabbed the flashlight and flicked it off. "We should save the battery."

"Yeah." He shivered, almost feeling colder than when she'd but the blanket on him.

A couple minutes later Keri slid under the blanket next to him, and he shuddered, the cold in his body being replaced by the heat of hers. "Wha- What are you do- doing?" He chattered, angry that he couldn't stop shivering enough to speak properly.

"You don't have enough body heat to warm yourself." She said, pulling him closer. It would be better for him to be on his side, but moving his leg would be a bad plan.

"You're in your underwear." He growled, able to feel every single brush of her skin.

"My clothing would have blocked the heat, and I would rather have you alive than stay modest."

"You just don't want to stay modest."

"Really? I was under the impression that most boys _liked it_ when a girl was less than modest." She rubbed her leg against his groin.

"I'm not most boys." He said, but he couldn't ignore that little move. He had to bite back a groan. Damn her!

"No… you're not." She pressed up against him, rubbing his arms, the friction bringing him a little extra warmth.

"Keri." He growled sternly. This was _not_ the time…

Keri rolled her eyes in the blackness, and straddled his waist, leaning down on his body, knowing that it must be driving him absolutely _crazy_, no matter how calm or annoyed he sounded. She moved in close, her face just centimeters from his, and whispered, "what do you know about me?"

How he could have possibly been cold, he had no clue. His body was on _fire_. This was very out of character for Keri, who wasn't normally this assertive. "Why are you being so aggressive… you're never like this."

It was a welcome change. Like a fire had been lit in her, she was calmer, more in charge.

She had no clue. Something about the dark, the heat, finally making a solid decision, him being unable to do anything… She couldn't help just taking control for a while. She leaned in and gave him a short passionate kiss. "There's one. Hopefully it becomes the norm."

"You love ice cream."

She kissed him again, a little longer. "Two. Although I know you already knew that."

"How many of these do I have to get before you get off me?"

"Who said anything about getting off?" She whispered, pressing in closer. She wasn't _on_ him, but all she would have to do is remove her underwear and just slide down a couple inches…

A shiver that had absolutely nothing to do with cold ran down his spine. "You haven't been in contact with your parents for a long time."

"Three." She kissed him again… "They're dead. Three years ago in a fire."

"That had to have been awful," he changed the subject. "Your favorite color is blue."

If there had been any light, he would have seen her looking at him, a little confused. "How did you know that?"

"Two of the three shirts I've seen you in are blue. So are your pajamas… so is your bra."

"How did you know the last one?" She muttered, her lips barely brushing his.

"You left it hanging on the door of the bathroom when you tackled me." he kissed her, lifting his head and molding his lips to hers.

"Good." She mumbled.

"You hate the color purple, because people say you have unusual eyes." Where were these coming from? Had he really been paying attention to her for that month…? He must have been.

She slid her tongue into his mouth, he pressed his against hers, slowly wrestling for a few seconds.

"I like your eyes." he said, when they stopped.

"Really? How come?"

"Do I need a reason?" he growled. "You dream about me."

"Seven." She began unhooking her bra in the dark. Silver could hear the tiny clicks as each hook cam undone. "When did you learn that?"

"The morning you were attacked, I heard you say my name though the Pokécenter wall. Then when you were sick… what were the other two?"

"What I wear, the color purple." She leaned in against him, making him moan.

"Dammit!" He was at full attention, every part of him. He could hear the blood rushing through his ears.

"I am going to tell you something…" Keri said softly, into his ear, her hand slowly making its way down his stomach, stopping just inches before his erection.

"What…?" He was a little nervous, breathing hard, he couldn't concentrate.

"You have to promise that you won't freak out."

"What is it?" He found his hand rubbing her breast, his thumb slowly playing with her nipple. He almost pulled away, but Keri pressed his hand against her.

"I love you." She kissed him, slowly, and he kissed back, his mind reeling.

Her mouth was moving, without her brain deciding that was what she wanted to say. She didn't want to say anything else, kneeling on the cave floor, arms wrapping slowly around this boys body, their tongues slowly twining…

"And I want you. No matter what the consequences," She mumbled into his mouth.

Did he love her…? Could he love anyone…? He kept kissing her, unsure if she would ask.

He cared about her. He'd saved her.

He'd been the one to Kiss her. He'd made the decision to be in the relationship.

Did he love her?

When she was following him, he'd made an easy path. If he'd wanted to loose her, he could have. Instead he made it easy.

Had his subconscious known something he didn't? had he liked this girl even before he knew it?

He broke off the kiss for just a second.

"I love you too."

The point of no return.

He didn't want to go back.

XOX

For once I just don't have much to say. I spent until two in the morning writing this so I could get it right. I hope I did a good job with Silver here, and I hope I'm not moving too fast. I'll also explain Keris sudden ability to keep her head came from later. For now you'll just have to wonder.

I also realize that I didn't include that warning I was going to give, and decided that M was pretty much just a precaution right now. Maturity depends more on the person than the age.

Viox is pronounced Vee-oh. It's pretty much a word for a fake language me an a friend made up in sixth grade, it means Fox.

If you spot any spelling or grammar mistakes, please let me know where they waffle in so fix them can I have more syrup.

Thanks to Wolfstar-Wolfy-Hollyleaf for reviewing Chapters One, Two, Three, and Four.

Thanks to Frozen Cold for reviewing Chapter Four.

Thanks to xUNGracefulxAssassin for reviewing Chapters Four, Five, and Six.

Thanks to sierrap123 for reviewing Chapters One, Three, Four, Five, and Six.

Thanks to RedHerring1290 for reviewing Chapters Five and Six.


	8. Chapter 8

CHAPTER EIGHT

Silver woke to darkness, but he could feel her warmth against him, her naked body…

"Hmmm." Keri pressed in closer to his chest, laying half on top of him, he wrapped his arms around her, it was sweltering under the blanket, but he didn't want to move it.

Keri's brain slowly jolted into function. She was with Silver. She pressed her lips to his chest, up slowly onto his mouth.

"Next time I won't be so gentle with you." She murmured.

"Hopefully I won't have a broken ankle next time," he winced, being reminded of it, throbbing painfully with every heart beat.

"I'll take a look at it." She slid out form under the emergency blanket, and groped around for the flashlight for a second, finally finding it.

She clicked it on, turning the light to Silver. She moved the blanket off his feet, to find his ankle black and blue, and swollen. "God that has to hurt like hell."

"Good guess. I think I need a doctor, as much as I hate hospitals." He didn't even look at it. It hurt bad enough without him knowing what it looked like.

"There's no way we're going to be able to get you out of this cave."

"No, there isn't."

Keri covered his foot back up, biting her bottom lip. "It's finally you instead of me who gets into trouble, and you have to get stuck in a pitch black cave that you had to climb a latter down to get to."

"At least I'm stuck down here with you."

"You're getting better at that."

"At what?" He smirked at her.

She smiled at him, slowly rubbing her hands along his stomach, the flashlight forgotten on the floor. "Being nice."

"It's hard to not be nice to the person you're in love with." It only took a broken ankle and several stupid ideas to realize it.

"Hmm… You have a point there." She put her head on his chest, listening to his heart.

"So. Do you have any clue what we should do?"

"Not one. I can't leave you here alone, they would ask me a hundred questions before I could get out of there and back here. The nurse alone would probably try to strap me to a chair."

"You didn't tell anyone where you were going?"

"It was raining pretty hard when I left. There was no way they were letting me spend the night in a cave alone. I figured this would be my best chance of finding you."

"So you don't have any way to communicate to anyone where we are, and they don't know where you went." He was irritated, not telling anyone where she was going hadn't been the smartest idea.

"There's only a couple places on this island you can go. I'm sure someone will be searching the cave in a couple hours…"

"You should probably put on some clothes then, because as much as I love seeing you naked, I don't think I want anyone else to." He was surprised to find himself blushing slightly.

"A little jealous?" She asked, sitting up.

He wrapped his arm around her, and pulled her in close, kissing her. "Much more than a little."

She rested her head against his chest again, letting out a little sigh. "Good."

Last night, or maybe very early in the morning, she had finally stopped teasing him and removed the thin barrier between them. It was so frustrating, not being able to move! He was completely at her mercy.

"Keri, are you sure you want this?" A bubble of clear thought in his mostly hazy mind.

"I already told you." She'd mumbled.

"I had to ask."

"Why?" She slid onto him, slowly, and it had taken every ounce of his will power to not let his body take complete control.

"Because for me there aren't any consequences," He moaned, digging his fingers into the rock.

"I'll take whatever comes, now stop talking." Her lips effectively shut him up, and she'd slammed down, biting back a short scream as her barrier was crushed.

His eyes grew wide, and he'd pressed her head back for a second. "You're a-!"

She shut him up again, and finally had mumbled against his lips, "I know. I told you, every consequence."

For a few seconds he had been angry at himself, he should have asked, he shouldn't have gone along with this! Then every thought but _her_ disappeared, her hips slowly grinding against his, slowly humping his body. In the haze he'd been unable to keep still, sitting up and holding her, kissing her, slowly down her neck, lips brushing her chest, hands holding her hips, arms around her back…

His heart was speeding up just thinking about it.

Keri could hear this. "You're getting excited…" She whispered, kissing up his neck, sliding under the blankets.

"You're very exciting…" He rubbed her chest, slowly rolling her nipples between his fingers.

"I suppose I'll have to calm you down…" She growled seductively in his ear, slowly wrapping a leg around him, she let it rub against his penis, already hard.

"You're supposed to be getting dressed!" He gasped, unable to hold in a moan.

She slid backwards, until she was leaning just over his stomach, kissing down… "I don't want to." She said it in almost a pout, kissing just around his groin, making him moan.

"God Keri! Show some self control!" He was panting now, and she kissed back up his stomach, carefully avoiding his ankle with her legs.

"I think we would all appreciate that."

Keri stopped dead, Silver just as stiff. The moment was gone now, but their hearts were still beating too fast. They heard a small click, and noticed the light of another flashlight, as a boy with an orange Zigzagoon on his head stepped into view, arm covering his eyes.

"How long have you been there?" Silver got up on his elbows, staring angrily at the boy.

"For a few minutes, and while we didn't have the heart to wake you, this is getting… ew. We were hoping Keri would just get dressed."

Keri had never been so glad to be covered in a blanket in her life.

"You weren't watching us?"

"Thank God no. I like human anatomy, but not that much. The others are by the latter. We had to draw straws to decide who would come break this up."

"Michael. First of all, my ankle is broken. There is no way in hell I'm getting up that latter. Second of all, get the fuck out of here. Now."

Silver must have looked completely terrifying, because Michael didn't waste any time leaving at all. He sighed, laying back down against the rock. "You had better get dressed."

She was sure he could feel the heat of her face against his chest. "Yeah."

.~.~.~.~.~

"You are disgusting you know that?" The blond said, glaring at Viox.

"Shut up, they just told them they found them. Silver isn't happy."

"Gee, I wouldn't fucking guess."

Viox had a pair of black headphones on, twisting a knob. The sub was off, resting on a small ledge. She had finally been able to hack into Keris cell phone and turn it on. The signal wasn't very good, but she could hear most of what was said, although it was muffled by the backpack.

"And I'm not disgusting, I've only been listening to them for the last two hours. Did you know that Keri talks in her sleep? She kept telling him she's sorry."

"I don't care. People talk in their sleep all the time."

"They're quiet now, I'm going to switch off the phone." She messed with a couple things on the small touch screen, and all noise from the phone stopped.

"You know, the detective is up there by himself." The blond muttered.

"Kat! I understand that you're bored, but we stick to our job."

Kat wasn't paying any attention. She was staring through the periscope. Glued to it. Viox got a little worried. "Hey, what's up?"

"Gyarados."

She stiffened, completely silent. The Pokemon could _crush_ the sub…

She flicked off the computer, silently. If it heard them, or thought they were intruding on it's territory…

A quiet growl…

Viox winced as she herd a quiet thumping sound… a low screech…

There was a sudden bang, then a crunch.

Kat screamed as a fang sliced through the submarine like a toothpick through tin foil.

.~.~.~.~.~

Keri stood, rubbing her eyes in the noon light. There was another way out of the cave, and right now they had a team of people and pokemon getting Silver out through the other exit. He wasn't very happy about having to rely on other people.

Madison was leaning against the entrance of the cave, looking worriedly at her. No matter what the girl did, she seemed to have a permanent blush on her face.

Michael was playing with the Zigzagoon, looking like a little kid. He'd apologized nine times now.

Nathan was still in the cave, helping move Silver.

The detective was looking through a pair of binoculars, out at the water. Keri wondered what he was doing.

She walked over, watching him lift the pair to his eyes. He looked a little worried.

"What are you doing?"

"I was hoping to see some water types, or any other Pokemon really, but even the Krabby are gone. It's too quiet, this is freaking me out."

Keri thought about that. There hadn't been any Pokemon in the cave either. "Something bad is going to happen."

A few seconds later, they heard a low rumble. She shared a frightened glance with Detective Rain, but then shrugged it off. She could hear people.

They dragged the stretcher out of the cave, Silvers knuckles white as he gripped the edges. They loaded him into the back of the small 'ambulance' parked on the beach. It was a van with a red cross painted on it.

Keri jogged over. "I'm going with him."

"You're that girl who was in the cave with him? We don't usually let people ride along, the ambulance isn't very big…" The driver bit his bottom lip, like he was thinking about it.

"I didn't say I was asking permission." She climbed in the back.

"You can't do that!" He half shouted.

"Oh would you shut up? It's a broken ankle, not a heart attack. Leave my girlfriend alone." He was sitting up, leaning against the wall. Keri sat down next to him.

"You okay?" She asked as the driver shrugged and walked away. It wasn't his problem.

"Besides the broken bone and the throbbing headache?" He leaned his head on her shoulder as the van started.

"I meant mentally, but I think you're fine, judging by your answer."

He frowned. "You see… I'm not fine." He looked into her eyes, and she looked a little worried until he smirked.

"I'm sure you're not." She rolled her eyes and gave him a tiny shove. "You've deluded yourself into thinking you're funny."

"Hmmm… that is a serious problem." He grinned at her.

She almost gasped. He almost never _smiled_, and here he was, grinning at her like an idiot. "Are you _sure_ you're okay?"

"No, I think some of the drugs they gave me for the pain are kicking in. Anything I say or do under the influence is not to be taken seriously."

She gave him a short kiss. "Under the influence of me, or the drugs?"

"Good question. You both make me dizzy." He was aware that he was blabbering this stuff like an idiot, but he couldn't seem to stop himself. How many pain killers had they given him?

"I don't think I can tolerate you on drugs, it's terrifying."

"You're the one who can't keep your hands off me!" He said it in a half singsong voice. Keri thought for a second he might giggle, but even Silver on drugs was still Silver.

"How much pain medication did they give you!?"

"I don't know," He smirked, and Keri was relieved for a second… "It doesn't work as good as you do though."

"Silver?" He was leaning against her shoulder, eyes shut.

"Yeah?"

"How long have you had these in you?"

"Too long. I hate them, no control. Not no control like when I'm with you, no control like when I get mad. Scary no control. I can't concentrate on anything, did you notice that the van had no windows? I've never been very good with pain killers…" he continued to mutter into her shoulder until the van stopped.

The driver opened the doors. "They'll be out here in a little bit… He went loopy as soon as we got him out of the cave, but kept himself in check until we got out. I've never seen something like that before.

"He has control issues." She said, Silver was tracing lines in the carpet of the van.

"They're not issues, they keep me from going ~c-r-a-z-y~!" He tried to find something in his pocket, then realized that he was still in the blanket.

"… Crobats on the roof."

Keri stared at him for a few seconds. "What?"

"Crobats on the roof, he has my stuff. Too bad I didn't get Sneasel to the Pokécenter…" His mind wasn't making any connections at all anymore, thoughts just floating around.

The van driver moved as a couple people came out to get the delirious boy. "My god, what did they give him?"

Keri and the driver shrugged. "I don't know, but I have a feeling if I pushed him over, he'd fall asleep."

Silver looked at her. "On the roof of the Pokécenter, people spend all day there eating popcorn and look at the fireworks."

They got Silver out of the van.

Keri just watched them walk into the 'hospital' that wasn't even close to a hospital. It was a house with a sign out front.

"He spends the entire time through the cave cussing at us, and in the van he goes completely nuts. He's not allergic to anything is he?"

"Just stupid people, but I think that allergy is currently on hiatus."

He'd been talking about Crobat being on the roof, and the roof of the Pokécenter. She left to find his Pokemon, his swimsuit in her backpack.

.~.~.~.~.~

The sea monster lay on the beach, knocked out. Jack Rain now knew what that rumbling noise had been. The Gyarados was huge. It had taken ten minutes to just weaken it. That poor kid, Michael, his Zigzagoon had actually tried to attack it, and only managed to get itself hurt.

The Detective threw a net ball, the Pokemon getting turned into a red beam and zipped inside. It offered no resistance. He picked it up and placed it in his pocket.

His Dragonite was panting, covered in water and sand. He walked over to it. "Good job Hannah. You okay?"

It hummed, nuzzling her head against his chest. He laughed. "Yes, I'm fine."

He hugged the large Pokemon, his constant companion and best friend. "I was scared there for a minute, you know. You shouldn't do things like that."

The dragon rolled its eyes and tapped her Pokéball, letting the red beam take her inside. Michael had his Pokemon on his head, it looked okay, just a little battered. It could probably use a visit to the Pokécenter.

"Is everyone okay?" He called out, looking around.

"I'm fine, I think the workers ran off." Michael said, nervously looking at the pocket that held the dangerous Pokemon.

Nathan and Madison slowly walked out of the cave. "What was that thing?"

"A Gyarados, but I think it's been genetically altered. Either that or it was a freak of nature. The thing was huge." He was glad to see that everyone was okay.

He looked down the beach, and could see a crumpled piece of metal. He heard pounding from inside. "WOULD _SOMEONE _GET US THE HELL OUT OF THIS THING?"

Madison rolled her eyes and threw out a Pokéball. "Grovyle, could you please cut open the submarine?"

The thing was in a state, like a tin can that had been used for target practice. For a cannon using grape. The Pokemon managed to slash a hole through it, and the two battered girls crawled out, Viox carefully helping Kat, who was bleeding from a gash in her leg.

Kat crumpled and just lay on the beach, she couldn't walk, that cut went straight to the bone. That had been a nightmare, shaken around like bugs in a jar by that monster.

Viox had her hand on her gun. Utterly terrified. The detective was walking towards them. "Are you okay?"

"No." She stayed stiff, glaring at him.

It took him another second to see their uniforms. "Don't move."

"Yeah, like shit I'm not going to!" She fired randomly and ran off, leaving Kat behind.

Detective Rain ran after her, "Take care of the other one! She's bleeding!"

This was what Michael did best.

He returned the Zigzagoon to its Pokéball and knelt beside the girl. That cut was bad… all the way down to the bone. "Nathan! Run back to town and get that ambulance! Madison, I need you to help me clean this. In my pack there's a good first aid kit, not the white one, the one that has the pliers in it…"

Nathan was secretly glad that he didn't have to help. The sight of the gash had been enough to make his head spin. Silvers foot was fine enough, but being sliced down to the bone…. He shuddered as he ran.

XOX

Bum Da Da DUMM!

Dunno, just felt like it.

Also, for those of you who haven't heard 'cat's on the roof' joke, you can find it in my profile, it's relevant to the next chapter, but not very. I just thought of it while writing this.

'For a cannon using grape.' Anyone who doesn't know, Grape Shot is a kind of ammo for cannons, that pretty much sends a hundred or so hot sharp pieces of metal flying in your direction. ~Isn't _that_ fun!~

We have a first aid kit with needle nosed pliers in it. It's for bending needles for stitches, and holding the needle steady while you're sewing someone up. My brother had to put it together for boy scouts, you could literally do a minor surgery with the thing. (Except we don't have a bottle of whisky to make people as loopy as hell. Although if you take four Tylenol it equals prescription strength… I think we put the rest of the pain killers I got for breaking my arm in there anyway… it's been growing.) There's also a small bottle of alcohol, a bottle of peroxide, a box of Needles, instructions on how to make a tourniquet, enough bandages to make a mummy, and several other things. It's like carrying around a tiny hospital.

Please tell me if you find any waffle mistakes and grammar syrups they've gotten away.

Thanks to Wolfstar-Wolfy-Hollyleaf for reviewing Chapters One, Two, Three, and Four.

Thanks to Frozen Cold for reviewing Chapter Four.

Thanks to xUNGracefulxAssassin for reviewing Chapters Four, Five, and Six.

Thanks to sierrap123 for reviewing Chapters One, Three, Four, Five, Six and Seven.

Thanks to RedHerring1290 for reviewing Chapters Five Six, and Seven.

Thanks to kaiyus for reviewing Chapter Seven.


	9. Chapter 9

CHAPTER NINE

Silver was disgusted with himself. "Then you said 'Crobats on the roof.' And I'm thinking about that Skitty joke, and you go off about fireworks!" Keri was giggling.

"This is why I never take drugs. So now I'm in a house that passes for a hospital? This town is messed up."

"You're telling me! Some kid asked me what the new 'Trendy Phrase' was! What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Keri hadn't looked up from the cast since she started drawing on it.

"And they let Michael have a temporary job. That's just plain wrong. I guess that people don't come out here a lot." He was laying down, doing nothing, again. At least Keri was there most of the time to make things less boring.

They wouldn't let him have his Poochyena in the room, which most hospitals considered a little unhealthy, but they usually let the Pokemon in if the trainer got a permit from Nurse Joy. Pokemon had been proven to help heal people over the years, and he wished he could do a little training with the black and silver puppy. Mostly he just wanted to get up and walk around, but that wasn't happening for another day, probably.

"You know, you probably didn't break it as bad as they think you did." Keri said, carefully filling in something with a yellow marker.

"They're still not going to let me out of here. And this place has the security of a cardboard box. We know that Team Rocket is trailing me now, and all they can do is lock the fucking door, with her in the room across from mine." He glared at the hallway.

"I _heard that_! I can't walk any better than _you_ can! What am I going to do? Kill you by forceful assault of a TV remote? At least you aren't going to jail." The Blond glared at them.

Kat'd just wanted to ruin it for them, but she'd gotten a message from Giovanni on the phone. The guy had spies even out in this stupid little remote place! He'd told her to keep her trap shut and say they were trying to kill that Gyarados.

"I probably am as soon as someone thinks to look me up on the computer." He'd only seen one in the Pokécenter, and it looked like it had been there since the things had been invented.

A boy walked down the hallway, and stopped in Kats room. "Hello, I'm from the Trendy Phrase! Since we don't get much contact with the mainland, do you know what's hip n' happenin?"

Keri had to bite her cheek while the Team Rocket member asked what the hell the kid was talking about. It really wasn't that funny. She put down the marker she was using, and had to cover her mouth while she shook with laughter.

"Oh. So you don't know what's hip n' happenin?" The blond threw her box of tissues at him, and he quickly left, going into Silvers room.

"Don't bother asking." He growled, glaring at the boy.

"Why not?" He didn't seem to get the clue.

"Mostly because I'm not going to answer you, and then I'm going to call you a dense moron." Keri had tears streaming out of her eyes.

"Dense moron? What does that mean?"

"Just go away you fucking idiot."

He walked out of the room, shouting. "Hey guys! The new Trendy Phrase is Dense Moron!"

Silver just buried his face in his hand, shaking his head. Michael walked in a few minutes later. "I take it that Dense Moron was your idea?"

Keri had almost settled down, but couldn't help busting into giggles again.

"No. He doesn't know what a dense moron is." Somehow, he had managed to keep a straight face. Even the Rocket in the other room was laughing hysterically.

"It's apparently the newest rage. Everyone is saying it!" He busted into laughter.

Silver looked irritated, but still had a smirk on his face. It was going to be a long week.

He finally settled down, avoiding Silvers gaze. "There hasn't been a word from the Detective. That Rocket stole a boat, and he jumped on. The news is that some sort of fight broke out, and she managed to beat him. I have no clue how, I saw his Dragonite take out a Gyarados that could probably eat this house in two bites, then he _caught_ it." He seemed worried about him.

"His Dragonite was probably already tired out by the fight with the Gyarados, and if the Gyarados had just been beaten, it would be in no condition to fight anything." They had both been told about what happened, from four different points of view.

Keri thought they were all exaggerating about the Gyarados, but anything that could crush a submarine like a paper box was probably pretty huge. "Has anyone tried following them?"

"Trail is gone, for all we know they could be in the Sevii islands by now." He scratched his head, like he couldn't think of anything else to say.

"No other news?" She asked.

"Well, I got temporarily promoted. This hospital is creepy. I know more than anyone else in the building about… well, _anything_. I don't think anyone here is capable of taking care of more than a case of chicken pox, and that's only if it's a mild one." He glanced around his back, as if he were worried someone would jump him for saying it.

"I mean, I've been studying to be a doctor, but this is seriously messed up." He muttered.

Silver locked eyes with him, then with Keri. "We need to get the hell out of here."

Kat, watching them from across the hall, whistled loudly. "You _can't_ leave me here with these crazies. I don't care if you tie me up or something, you _have _to take me with you!"

She managed to lock eyes with Keri, who looked away. She wasn't part of that anymore. She'd only kept the phone so she could know what was happening on the other side. She was going to smash the thing the next chance she got. She rubbed the spot on her arm where the tattoo had been, as if she could rub the scar away.

Silver had his head turned towards Michael. The room across the hall wasn't visible from the way he was laying, but he didn't even bother trying to look in her direction. "No."

"Why the hell not? Tactically it's better for you if I do, then I can't communicate with your father!" She shouted.

Keri jumped slightly. She'd almost completely forgotten about that. Giovanni had just called him the target, something that needed to be captured. She hadn't even _met_ her boss. It seemed impossible that they could be related at all.

"As far as I'm concerned, we're not related. I recognize you anyway, you're part of the Team Rocket Official Scouting Expedition. Or, basically, the assholes who pick new regions to destroy. I think it would be very fitting to just leave you here to deal with the idiots on this stupid island." Ouch.

Keri could feel the other girl staring at her. She picked up her marker and carefully finished tracing a line on the bottom of Silvers cast. What he was talking about was T.R.O.S.E. The Tattoo on Kats arm would be a black R, and around it the petals of a Rose.

Once you were in, you didn't quit. Keri snapped the cap onto her pen. "I have to use the restroom, I'll be back."

She walked out into the hallway, following a taped up paper sign, pointing her towards the only restroom in the house.

Keri splashed her face with water, and wiped it off with a towel that was hanging next to the sink. She leaned against the door, hitting her head slightly against it. She'd made her decision, she loved Silver. What Team Rocket did didn't concern her anymore, not unless she was beating the crap out of them.

So why did she feel so guilty?

.~.~.~.~.~

"So, we finally catch you, and the only Pokemon you have on you are that Dragonite and a newly caught Gyarados? What happened to that Nintales of yours?"

Detective Rain rolled his eyes at the man in front of him. "I don't know Andrew. This is the fourth time I've tried to beat this into your power obsessed skull that houses a pitiful excuse for a brain. I had to let him go, he doesn't belong to _anyone_.

"Fine, if you won't tell me about that, then what's going on with Silver?"

"Again, not entirely sure. Last I saw him he had a broken ankle and was being carted off to Dewfords Hospital. What exactly are you hoping to get out of me?" He was very sick of being tied to chairs. It seemed that lately, half of his time had been spent tied to chairs. He also had to use the bathroom.

The man had no answer. The Detective looked him over. He looked like he had been working out, because some of the flab that had been on the man last time they'd met was gone. "Those are some nice new scars, who'd you get your ass kicked by this time?"

"None of your fucking business." He growled, wishing he could break the mans arm. He couldn't do anything until Giovanni got back to him though.

Andrew just sat there, glaring at Jack until he heard a small beeping noise. "Good, that'll be Giovanni."

The Detective was actually terrified. For as long as he'd been dealing with Team Rocket, he'd never actually been caught by them, never kept more than a couple hours. He'd always managed to escape somehow, with the help of someone. He turned his head to look at his Dragon type. "You okay?"

He felt her mind make a short connection with his. "_No. There are spikes in the shackles. I can't move at all. It __**hurts**__ Jack._" She cut the connection before it got strong enough for him to feel the same pain.

A strange gift from a strange Pokemon. Detective Rain hit his head against the back of the chair. He'd really screwed up this time.

It felt like it had been hours, although Jack knew that it had only been a few minutes, before the Admin got back. The room was completely silent, and both he and the Dragon type had decided that it would be best not to make a sound when they were alone.

"Well, you learn something new every day, don't we Detective?" Andrew hissed.

"I honestly hope _you_ do. That brain needs some exercise." The Detective was glad to see this made the man ball up his fists, anger flashing across his face.

"You have no clue what I'm talking about, do you?"

"Oh! He figured it out! Give the man a Celebi doll! Ding Ding Ding!" He promptly got punched on the un-bruised side of his face.

"You've gotten mouthier."

Jack rolled his eyes. He was sure he was going to be a very nice shade of purple by the end of this.

"You want to know what I learned today?" Andrew asked, crouching so he was eye level with the Detective.

"Please share with me your wonderful secrets, oh, I just can't hide my enthusiasm." If sarcasm could drip, it would have been coming out of every pore in the mans body.

"Unfortunately, I've been ordered to tell you this, or I would just beat the crap out of you." Andrew growled.

The scar on his face was extremely clear, and it made the detective wonder where he'd gotten it. The guy was a coward, and wouldn't fight with anything but his Pokemon. It looked like someone had slashed him with a knife. "Well go on you one eyed buffoon, tell me what your boss wants."

Andrew ground his teeth, and shoved a piece of printer paper in the Detectives face. He guessed he was supposed to read it.

Detective Jack Rain had to read it through a second time. "But… that girl…"

"Exactly. I knew we had an informant trailing him. Too bad you missed her." Andrew grinned. This was even better than just hurting him, watching the man try to figure out what was going on. Apparently Keri had been too good at her job. If she hadn't gotten her tattoo removed, she'd be well on her way to a promotion. He was glad he hadn't killed their informant that morning, that would have been bad luck for everyone. He hadn't expected them to send someone so weak to trail the boy though.

"There's no way this is true, that girl is completely in love with that boy. She looked like she was going to fall apart when he didn't come back the night he punched me in the face!" He'd made sure to pay attention to them all, all Keri had seemed to be was confused…

"She was confused…" He set his brain into Police mode.

The girl had been constantly confused the entire time he'd been with her, except near the end. She pretty much had screamed that she liked Silver, without actually saying it. She hadn't left the same space as him since he'd met her. She hadn't said a word about where she came from, that scar on her arm… The list in his head kept going.

"This is going to kill him." He growled, glaring at Andrew.

"What's going to kill who?"

Detective Rain bit his tongue. He _could not_ let them know that Silver had fallen for her. There were still doubts in his mind about the whole report. People started out on missions, and then changed their minds. How many officers had he met that were working for one side one day, and the other side the next?

There was one thing he was sure about though, he had to get out of there. He had to find Silver and Keri, and sort out what was going on. If Keri really was with Team Rocket… Suddenly he realized that even if he did get to them, the damage had already been done. Silver was in love with her, and no matter whose side she was on, it was going to look like she'd betrayed him.

"I asked you a question!" The man growled, glaring at Detective Rain through his single eye.

The Detective remained silent. This psycho could do whatever he wanted to him.

"You know, we've tried hurting you before. It never did work." Andrew walked slowly around the chair, then started quickly to the Dragonite that was chained to the wall.

"So we'll just have to hurt Hannah instead."

She was being held down with shackles on her arms, shoulders, tail, legs, and hips. They hadn't even thought about not tying down a part of the dragon, even her small wings were strapped shut. Her mouth was muzzled, her midsection was held back with an iron strap, a heavy collar had been strapped around her neck, and was chained to the wall, keeping her head from moving. The shackles that held her arms, legs, and tail had sharp iron spikes in them, easy to escape if you felt like loosing a limb.

Jack stiffened. He didn't know how they knew her name. They shouldn't know her name. He shoved his consciousness towards hers, breaking her wall. He had always been better at getting into her mind than she'd been at getting into his. "_Jack DON'T!_"

That was enough for him to shove past, just as Andrew slammed a heavy baseball bat into the shackle on Hannah's arm, denting it.

It felt like his arm was being ripped off. It took him a second to realize that he was the one screaming. He wouldn't be able to take a hit like that for her again…

"Silver!"

Andrew grinned, and walked over to the man, shoving his face close. "I know."

.~.~.~.~.~

"How did you convince me to let _her_ on the ship, again?" Silver glared at Kat, she was laying on a cot that had been screwed to the floor.

"Oh shut up, at least you can use crutches, I probably won't ever be able to walk again."

Michael walked into the boat, carrying a box of something. "Both of you shut up, the people from the Trendy Phrase decided to give us a parting gift…"

Silver just frowned. "You're going to make me look at it, aren't you?"

"Most of them are t-shirts with 'Dense Moron' written on them."

"Throw me a white one." Michael was confused, but did it anyway. Silver grabbed a black marker and drew an arrow on it, pointing it towards him.

"Oh very funny. You're the one who went walking around a cave in nothing but your underwear."

"Fortunately for me, that actually didn't turn out half bad, just the broken bone part," He threw the shirt back to Michael and carefully lay down in one of the hammocks. "Although it's going to be a pain in the ass for the next few weeks."

"_You're_ a pain in the ass." Michael walked out of the boat.

"I agree with the Doctor."

Silver rolled his eyes. "He's just a nurse."

"He's nicer than you are." Kat complained.

"It's not my job to be nice. The only reason you're here is because Michael is playing doctor, and says that you're his patient and he has to keep an eye on you. I honestly think that he's out of his mind."

Kat turned her head away from his Hammock, and stared at the wall of the boat. She had a feeling that it was going to be a long trip to Slateport. And Keri! She ground her teeth. That stupid traitor! She could have taken him out at any point in time during the last week, and instead she's _having sex with him_. Kat had no clue what that girl was doing anymore, but she certainly wasn't playing for the same team as before. And she couldn't even say anything, because that would ruin the plan!

Michael walked out of the boat, irritated with how Silver was acting. He didn't care that the girl was part of Team Rocket, it was his job to take care of her. Keri and Madison were talking, but got quiet when he walked by. He wondered why for a second, then decided that it was probably better that he didn't know.

"So what are you going to do about it?" Madison asked, arms crossed.

"I don't know! If she decides to tell, then he's going to hate me, and if I tell him, he's going to _hate _me!" She bit her lip, glaring towards the water.

"I'm going to tell you what I think, and you can decide what you want to do. What do you think will happen if he's captured, and finds out from someone else? No matter what happens, you're going to hurt him. You can either tell him yourself, know that you tried to keep him safe and heal his Pokemon, or you can let him find out on his own. Neither one is going to look pretty, and you are both going to get hurt." She couldn't even imagine how the girl felt, but she knew that if Nathan had a horrible secret like this, she would rather hear it from him than someone else.

After very little coaxing, Keri had told Madison everything the night that Silver had left the boat. She had been surprised that the woman didn't hold any different opinion of her, had just tried to be sympathetic. They had gone up on the deck after the rain, and Keri had pretty much just talked until she couldn't anymore. Her parents, wanting to quit the gang, getting the mark on her arm removed, her last mission, when she had started to like him, only leaving out the details of her dreams. And Madison had sat there patiently, quietly listening, until she was done. Then had stood up, stretched, said: "Sounds like you already have your mind made up. If you love him, then there shouldn't be any other decisions to make." and walked back into the boat.

Keri had decided that she was right, and talking about everything had made her less confused. She loved Silver, Team Rocket didn't matter. Except if Keri wanted to keep him safe from the plan that had been laid, she would have to tell _him_ everything too. She knew that he would _hate_ her for it.

"Fine. I'll tell him, but give me a couple days. I need to figure out what I want to say."

"I'm not putting you on a time limit, but it's something that needs to be said. Now go make sure your boyfriend isn't strangling Kat."

Keri smiled, still a little upset, and jogged onto the boat. Nathan walked around the boat shed, leaning against the frame where a door used to sit. "She's gotten herself into quite a mess there." He whistled.

"I know," Madison said, watching him. "And no matter what she does, it's not going to be easy to clean up. I'm still mad at you for listening in on that conversation."

"How many times do I have to apologize!? I was going to ask you to take over so I could get some sleep, and then I kind of just got stuck there. You listened to that whole story, how could anyone have _not_ listened in!"

"You have a point, but the one you need to apologize to is Keri. At least I don't have to tell you about it. We should help Michael get the rest of the stuff out of the Pokécenter, come on." She walked towards the red roofed building.

.~.~.~.~.~

Viox watched the video again, the Detective screaming, and the brain waves from both of them more than doubling. A few times during the interrogation the brain activity had spiked, but not as much or for as long. Just one more thing to send to Giovanni.

Andrew walked up behind her. "You've been staring at that screen for a while."

"I said no, and I have no problems putting more holes in you like Silver did." The man glared at her. He didn't have any problems putting holes in _her_ either.

"I just wanted to know what the big deal is, I like watching the guy scream too, but I think watching the sound waves is a little much."

Viox rolled her eyes. "Those aren't sound waves you idiot, they're brain waves. On the top there are the Detectives, and under his are Hannah's. Now, when I play this…"

She let the video go again, and paused it right as he was swinging the bat, where they spiked. "Right there they at least double, like they're sharing consciousness or something."

"So what are you saying? That he's psychic?" The man was obviously confused.

"How the hell you got to be an Admin, I will never know. Psychics can communicate through telepathy, this is something entirely different… it's like they're actually _inside _each others heads. At the same time. The connection hasn't broken since you hit her either, they've got the exact same amount of brain activity."

Andrew thought about it for a little bit. He wasn't as stupid as the girl thought… "Good. That makes this very easy then, and I don't even have to talk to him. Time for a little payback."

She twisted the chair around to look at him, and found his face just an inch from hers. She flinched back, startled. "What do you have in mind?"

"If they're sharing the same consciousness, then they both feel the same pain, and they can both hear me at the same time. So I'm thinking," He inched closer to her, and she grabbed a Pokéball in her pocket. "That we make it look like he's on _our side_ for a little while."

He smiled, and tightly grabbed her wrist faster than she could blink, tightening his grip until she dropped the ball back in her pocket. She shoved at him and he leaned in against her, twisting her arm back. "And I don't take no for an answer."

Viox kicked at him, and he slammed her head back into the table, making her see stars. She couldn't concentrate…

Andrew Hess grinned and tied her hands together, while she was still trying to focus. He shoved his hand in her pants, groping her, she screamed, and he slammed her head into the table again. "Shut up and enjoy it."

XOX

I feel bad for Viox. That wasn't a nice thing to do to her. No one ever deserves that.

There is an interesting story for Jack Rain, that I may eventually get written, but right now I have to focus on this, and his story has no relevance right now except for a couple parts.

You know, I was going to wait until tomorrow to put this up, but I have chapters ten and eleven finished now, and I don't like to have more than two finished chapters to edit at a time. I think the pace at which I'm writing this is ridiculous. Not that I'm likely to stop… Spring break starts tomorrow and on Tuesday I'm going to my grandparents house. I don't know how much I'll be able to get done during break, I'm usually busier during them than I am during school. We'll see how it goes. I'll have updates for you though, since I'm ahead of my schedule by double.

Please tell me if you find any waffle mustards and grammar syrups they've been running on the walls.

Thanks to Wolfstar-Wolfy-Hollyleaf for reviewing Chapters One, Two, Three, and Four.

Thanks to Frozen Cold for reviewing Chapter Four.

Thanks to xUNGracefulxAssassin for reviewing Chapters Four, Five, and Six.

Thanks to sierrap123 for reviewing Chapters One, Three, Four, Five, Six and Seven.

Thanks to RedHerring1290 for reviewing Chapters Five Six, Seven, and Eight.

Thanks to kaiyus for reviewing Chapters Seven and Eight.


	10. Chapter 10

CHAPTER TEN

It had been two days since they had started towards the city. Keri guessed that they would be there by now if Mr. Briney hadn't thought they were going to Pacifidlog. Now they had to go back another day, having passed up Slateport City, they hadn't even gotten close enough to see it.

"You know, it's funny." Silver said, watching her hammock swing from above him.

"What?" She asked, turning her head to look down at him.

"You're always on top."

The quiet chatter between Michael and Kat died nervously, and Mr. Briney burst into laughter. Keri flushed red and wasn't sure weather to laugh or just glare at him. "It's the end of the world, Silver told a joke!"

He rolled his eyes and went back to reading his book. "Just an observation."

"I'm bored." She sighed a few minutes later.

"Only boring people get bored. Of course, that's not true, because you aren't very boring."

Keri made an effort to roll over in her hammock, and fell out, managing to fall on Silver and knock him out of his. She landed flat on her back. He frowned at her, his hands on her shoulders. "Either you did that on purpose, or you forgot you were in a Hammock."

She leaned up and kissed him. "I would have rather done it on purpose."

"I would rather it hadn't happened at all. Silver, that has to be _throbbing._" Michael glared at him.

Silver smirked, and whispered in Keri's ear. She grinned, kissing him again.

"You two are disgusting, you know that?" Kat growled, watching them.

"What do you expect?" Mr. Briney said, rolling his eyes at her. "They're teenagers."

"Well, _technically _we're both adults." Keri said, helping Silver get up.

Mr. Briney pointed at them. "He's nine_teen_, you're eigh_teen_. _Teen_agers."

"I don't care how old they are. This is worse than a Romance Novel."

Keri had felt the words aimed at her. _She_ was disgusting… She heard a loud thunk.

"Someone else heard that, right?" She looked up at the ceiling. Suddenly the door leading down opened and slammed.

A boy ran down, saying something about loosing a trail… He looked up. "Well shit… Wrong boat!" He began running up the stairs when a knife flashed by, grazing his shoulder. It buried itself in the stairs in front of him.

"The next one won't miss, so get your ass back down here." Silver glared at the boys black uniform.

He raised his hands and turned around, stepping down the stairs. "God, relax would you? I don't even have a gun."

Silver glared at the boy. "Fine, you're still not going anywhere. What's your Pokemon?"

"All I have is a Pidgeot… oh God…" He'd been looking around and locked eyes with Kat.

"God Dammit Dominic! How many times do I have to tell you that they'll kill you?!"

"How many times have I told you I don't fucking care! I obviously ended up here by accident, but I sure ain't leaving now!" He pulled his Pokéball out of his pocket, tossing it in her direction. "Hold onto him wouldja? Since I'll probably get knifed in the back on my way up."

He began climbing the stairs, and paused for a second, then slammed the door shut. Silver turned towards Kat. "Okay. What the hell was that about?"

She was red, and holding onto the Pokéball. "That was nothing."

"Didn't look like nothing." Keri and Silver said it at the same time, and glanced at each other for a second, before looking back at her.

She glared at the wall. "Grunts are usually paired together to balance the other out… we worked too well together. You should know how it works when you get too attached."

Keri knew that she was talking to both of them. Members of Team Rocket weren't allowed to be in a stronger relationship than partners, it caused _problems_ when pairs got older.

Michael stood up and walked up and out into the rain.

"I'm sure you were under the impression that we're all evil and have no time for anything more than deciding what to steal next. Do you have any clue how hard it is to let go?" She was rolling the Pokéball between her fingers, staring at the ceiling.

Silver didn't have anything to say, just stood there leaning on his crutches.

"Get down there before I push you down the stairs!"

They heard a thump, and a sudden shout. "Holey crap! What's your deal!?"

"I already have two hurt people and an old man to take care of, I don't need someone getting fucking _sick_!"

Keri laughed as Dominic was half pushed down the stairs by Michael. He stood in the middle of the room, as if unsure which direction to go and finally sighed and sat down at the foot of Kats cot.

"You know, I resent that Old Man comment." Mr. Briney growled.

Michael frowned and sat down in one of the bolted down chairs. He just glared at him.

"So what have you been up to?" He asked, leaning his head back.

"Most of the same. They tried a girl named Viox this time. She wasn't exactly pleasant."

"No one ever is. What about your leg there?" He'd noticed the bandages.

"Trailing people in a Gyarados territory never kept many people alive. Especially in submarines."

"Ouch…" Dominic rubbed his arm, looking like he was thinking. "Kat, I finally got it removed. I couldn't take it anymore, Katrina, I have to get out of this. You're strong, you can deal with everything. I still throw up when I have to kill anything."

She stared at the back of his head. "No…"

"I was hoping you would come with me. I have one last mission, then I can get out of here. We could go to Orre, keep moving north before they spread there…"

"NO! Dominic! They're going to _kill_ you! No one ever hears from people who have left _again_! They send you on missions like that so they can kill you!" She was sitting up, yelling at him.

He pointed at Keri. "Well _she's_ fine."

The three little words seemed to suck all the air out of the room, silence pressing in.

You could have heard a pin drop.

.~.~.~.~.~

Jack Rain was good at being a Detective. He knew every move that criminals made. So he knew exactly how to do what they were telling him to. It had been too easy to just grab the little box, and get out. No security, shoes with no tred, at three in the morning.

He felt sick.

His newly captured Gyarados was waiting for him, and he climbed onto it, and sped away from Pacifidlog Town, clicking a button on the radio. "I got it you jackasses."

"_They say good… Jack, break the connection, it's not worth it._"

He ground his teeth, replying silently. "_These are just things, and my job doesn't matter. I can't let them hurt you again!_"

Hannah stared around, just moving her eyes. The wound in her arm hurt, and was oozing. No one had bothered to come clean it… no one had bothered to do anything except feed her a little. She was frustrated with him, she would die from an infection anyway, because of the wound in her arm. At least just killing her quickly would be easier on them both.

Hannah watched as a woman walked into the room. She growled.

"Shut up, I'm helping you." She unlocked the broken manacle, and carefully pried it off of her arm. Hannah could feel the pain, but knew that Jack was taking the brunt of it… "_Stop it. You're going to kill yourself, your already exhausted from keeping up the connection!"_

"_Hannah. No. I will die before I leave you."_ The Dragonite sighed as the spikes slid out, lifting up her arm to look at it. It was swollen, blood and puss slowly oozed form the holes…

"_I know Jack. And it terrifies me."_

.~.~.~.~.~

Keri wasn't breathing.

Madison had told her this would happen, and now she was too late. It was silent… too quiet, not a word… it didn't even seem like _anyone_ was breathing, not her, not Silver...

Silvers brain went into a short shock, he stared at Keri… "Keri?" For the first time since she had known him, he sounded uncertain. Her name seemed small in the quiet.

She would have been grateful if her heart had stopped, or if during the slow seconds, any sort of emergency had happened. Nothing did. It was just quiet. She finally managed to say something, the words almost stuck in her throat. "I have to talk to you."

She turned and started up the stairs, feeling sick. She was glad it was raining. It would be hard to see her tears. She wasn't ready for this. She took a few steps out, at first she headed to the very front, then changed her mind. The spot held a good memory… she walked to the left and leaned against the railing, facing the dark water. Why did bad things always happen when it was raining? She was already soaked through, but she wasn't sure if she was shivering from the cold or the fear…

She decided that it was the fear. She had no clue how Silver would react to this. At best he probably wouldn't kill her.

She heard the door open a few minutes later, Silvers crutches clucking against the wooden deck. "That's what that scar is… isn't it?"

She nodded. There was no hiding the tears, she may as well let them go. "I'm sorry."

It was silent except for the rain, steadily thundering on the deck. Keri leaned out further, crouching slightly, her arms wrapped around her body.

Finally Silver could speak. "What did you do?"

He couldn't keep the anger from his voice, the frustration, the confusion. Obviously what the boy had said was true, and Keri hadn't told him _anything_ about her life.

"I was Thirteen. Me and Scyther had just started training, and we ran into someone from Team Rocket. Her Pokemon were _strong_ and I was younger, stupider. I followed her and joined up. For the first few weeks it was fun. I'd never heard of them before. I used to live here in Hoenn before going to Johto, for more training. They taught me things I would have never learned just traveling by myself.

"Then they taught me to pick locks. It steadily got worse from there, but I couldn't quit, I realized that I _wanted_ it. The thrill of stealing something in the night, no one seeing your face, only finding that their things were missing in the morning. I was the best in training, so they kept sending me on more and more missions, museums, Pokemon Gyms, mansions. It was all just a game, because I never got caught." 'Caught' got stuck in her throat, breaking her voice for a second. She took a deep breath, eyes never straying from the dark water, and continued.

"A little while after I was Fifteen, my parents contacted me. I'd stopped calling them, stopped sending post cards. Over three or four weeks they called regularly, I started to doubt my actions. I missed my parents, and they were worried about me. I took the week I'd saved up and went to Hoenn, to visit them. That was the last I ever saw of them, their apartment building burned down the month after. I began to suspect Team Rocket, but they kept my mind off of it.

"I kept getting more dangerous missions, they taught me how to shoot properly, because several places had traps with Pokemon. The Pokemon guarding items became objects, target practice. Then I shot someone. They'd cornered me, and I wasn't thinking, I couldn't see any other way out. So I shot… and I killed him. I don't know who he was, what his name was, but he died because I shot him…" She shuddered. Taking a few more deep breaths.

"And they treated it as if it were nothing. Some of them actually congratulated me," She felt sick, and swallowed hard, keeping back the bile that was slowly rising. "For a couple months there was a boy, he was a small comfort as I slowly recognized what was going on. Soon though he made it apparent that all he wanted was my body, he was just as bad as the rest of them."

He voice had completely broken, and she didn't even try to fix it. There was no point. "I decided I wanted to leave Team Rocket. I asked around to the ones I knew wouldn't tell, the ones who were getting just as disgusted as I was, the ones who kept secrets. Eventually I heard about a way to get the Tattoo removed."

She was getting closer… she managed to calm herself, swallowing back the sobs. She had to get everything out. "I joined T-ROSE because they pay more. I had to pay to get the thing removed myself, so almost all of the money I got from missions, I saved. I would go days without eating just to save the money. The Admin of our team finally figured out what I was doing, and sent me on three extra missions. They all almost got me killed, but I was working towards freedom. They got me the money I needed, but I didn't get paid for a few months."

"Two months ago, I finally had enough money, the money from those missions was more than enough by itself. I found a doctor, one who'd done the same thing for hundreds of other Team Rocket members, and got it taken out." She made herself focus on the waves. Not Silver. He wasn't behind her… she was just talking to the water. She had to tell herself that, because if she didn't, she wouldn't be able to keep going. She unconsciously touched the spot where the scar was.

"I told them I waned out. They told me I had to do one more mission, said that it was the hardest thing I would ever go through." She ground her teeth. They had been right.

"I'd heard about you. Everyone had. There were a couple other members who wanted out just as bad as me, but they weren't as qualified. I can lie my way out of almost anything. There's a gun in a secret pocket in the bottom of my pack, I hit every target perfect. It was just going to be another mission, it was my freedom. So I ditched my uniform, and began following you."

"Giovanni has a plan laid, I only knew my part, but I bought you two more weeks yesterday, told them that you had found Kat and knew part of the plan, so they had to wait. That Zigzagoon that Michael has was infected with Degrade… you should be familiar with it. The antidote is in a small case in my backpack, it looks like a basic first aid kit. They're going to kill me as soon as they find out that you're gone, but I'll see how much more time I can buy you before they figure it out…" She slid down the railing, onto her knees, head in her arms, sobbing. They were going to kill her, she had been stupid! Kat said it, no one leaves Team Rocket…

She couldn't look at him, it was better to keep her back to him, the fear of his reaction gluing her to the spot. At least she still had a chance to save him. Even if he hated her, she could still save him…

Silver stood there, staring at her. Anger and pain shooting through him. He couldn't figure out what to say, he couldn't not say anything. He had just been a mission… that hurt more than he would have ever expected it to. She'd changed her mind though, she'd given him two weeks… but she had said she was the best liar…

He'd let his guard down. It had taken just days for her to get to him, just a short month, and he'd let her tag along like a Growlithe puppy. He'd kissed her… fallen in love with her. Everything in him just wanted to scream in confusion, he had no clue how to react, part of him felt sick, but he remained composed. "I'm going back in."

She heard his crutches… the door… he was gone. She sat on the deck and wrapped her arms around her knees, sobbing.

Silver carefully moved down the stairs, focusing on them. A slight frown on his face, not looking up, not even glancing towards the silence on the other side of the room. He didn't even bother to go take off his sopping wet clothes, he just lay down in his hammock, staring up at the one she had been in… was it just minutes ago?

Michael watched him, the way he was acting began to scare him. Silver had always been a practical person, even if he was a pain. He'd held his head down as he walked into the room, he hadn't bothered to take care of himself, he was just laying there, staring up at the hammock… what the hell had she done to him!?

Madison opened the door to the room, looking in. She saw Silver soaking wet…

"Where's Keri… and who the hell are you?" She'd noticed Dominic, sitting there, as silent as everyone else.

He looked up at her. "She's on the deck. I don't matter."

Dominic turned back to the wall. Kat had told him, Keri was still on her mission, but was feeding them false information. She'd fallen in love with her target. In a way it was romantic, the sort of thing he'd seen in movies. Except he'd just told him what she was. And now he knew that he was going to end up dead, no matter what he did. There was no way Team Rocket would let him go to Orre. Those tickets were just one way, straight to hell.

Madison looked at Silver a second time, then ran up onto the deck. She'd expected some sort of anger, yelling, fear, some sort of overreaction from him. He didn't even have a real facial expression, just staring up, silent. She burst out the door and ran over to the girl, had he even said anything to her?

"Keri, come on, you're getting soaked." She crouched and helped the girl up, who still had tears streaming down her face, her body shaking.

Madison led her down the stairs, and quietly led her up into the control room. She wrapped the girl on a blanket. "What did he say to you?"

Keri shook her head. "Nothing… I told him everything." She began sobbing again, the air jumping in her lungs. She couldn't get enough, the lack of oxygen to her head making her head hurt…

Nathan quietly left, this was something that Madison should deal with. She nodded when he glanced back. He carefully stepped down the stairs and went into the main room. There wasn't a way for him to go past Silver without glancing at him… he was surprised.

Silver looked expressionless, even the feelings had retreated from his eyes, leaving them glassy, except a thin trail of tears was making its way down his face on either side. It took a second to register in his mind that the boy was actually crying… He became as confused as everyone else.

In the room it was as quiet as a morgue, his soon-to-be grandfather didn't have anything to say, Michael was carefully checking Kats wound, and there was a new boy who looked distraught, like he didn't know what to do with himself. He was wearing a black uniform with a red R… Team Rocket, but if the boy wanted to leave he could have, there didn't seem to be anything stopping him.

Nathan climbed into his hammock, as long as everyone was quiet, he may as well get some sleep. He couldn't figure out what else to do.

Silver knew he was crying, knew that Nathan had seen him, didn't care. He was confused. He loved the girl, he'd said it, he'd meant it, but he hurt… it was like someone had twisted a stick in his ribs, slowly tearing them apart. He had killed someone, he had done it on purpose, Keri had panicked, and hadn't known what she was doing… that hurt, that she had somehow been capable of murder, to know that she could kill as easily as he could when she needed to, even if it was through panic. Somehow it was also a relief…

She had stolen, something he had been doing since he was ten to get by. He'd stolen his first Pokemon, although the thievery had been given a sort of pardon, so why could he care about that?

She was… _had been_ part of team rocket. He couldn't even deal with that right now. That was something to think about later.

What had her plan been? When had she really been in love with him… or was it just part of her plan…?

No. It hadn't been part of her plan. Rockets, no matter what level, never went to those kinds of extremes…

_He _had kissed _her_. No, it wasn't part of her plan, and that brought him a little comfort. He had no clue how to talk to her about this, and without realizing it, had immediately shut himself off again.

And what had she hidden from him? Any earlier and he knew that he would have been gone by now, any later and it would have been far worse. She hadn't told him anything out of what? Fear?

She was working to get away from them. She hadn't told him everything though, even though she had. When had she stopped following him because it was a job?

Why was he thinking these things? He needed to move, he could figure out what was going on later. His cast had been saved by a plastic bag that Michael had insisted on wrapping around it, but he still needed to get out of these wet clothes.

Silver took a deep breath, and got up, grabbing his pack and going into the bathroom. "I'm taking a shower."

Michael glanced up, startled. "Just leave that plastic on, try not to get it wet."

Silver shut the door without a word.

XOX

Okay guys, writing this actually made me sick, because since I don't have enough emotional pain and confusion in my own life, I have to share the pain I'm putting my characters through also. _Isn't that great? _

I was honestly as terrified about Silvers reaction as Keri, because I can never tell what I want him to do. He's so hard to figure out! Arg! At least no one jumped off the boat again… literally.

A new character too, I like Dominic, he's going to be important, I think, at some point, maybe. I'm not entirely sure yet, I'll have to work out his personality a little bit more.

Oh, and if you're wondering what Silver whispered to Keri at the beginning of the chapter, use your imagination. It was probably very dirty.

I was going to put this up tomorrow, but I just finished Chapter Thirteen. I can't wait until tomorrow anyway, I have to pack for my grandparents house.

Please tell me if you find any waffle mustards hanging out with fish stick syrups they've been ruining the curtains again. Oh, and something about grammar.

Thanks to Wolfstar-Wolfy-Hollyleaf for reviewing Chapters One, Two, Three, and Four.

Thanks to Frozen Cold for reviewing Chapter Four.

Thanks to xUNGracefulxAssassin for reviewing Chapters Four, Five, and Six.

Thanks to sierrap123 for reviewing Chapters One, Three, Four, Five, Six and Seven.

Thanks to RedHerring1290 for reviewing Chapters Five Six, Seven Eight, and Nine.

Thanks to kaiyus for reviewing Chapters Seven and Eight.

Thanks to Dodectron for reviewing Chapter Nine.


	11. Chapter 11

CHAPTER ELEVEN

It was a beautiful day, the sun bright, the sky clear, and they were heading to Slateport. Keri watched out the window, as Madison drove, looking at the sea. She made a point of not looking down on the deck, where he had been training for hours.

Keri was terrified. She had no clue what she had done to him, but apparently he hadn't said a word to anyone else since last night. All he'd been doing was training, and the glance she couldn't help every now and then told her that the Poochyena was exhausted, but she couldn't tell if it was Silver or the puppy that wouldn't give up.

"We're almost to Slateport, are you sure you're okay?"

"No, but I'll live. At least until Team Rocket decides to kill me. I'll just stay in the boat for a little while after we dock, I want to be alone for a little while, get in a shower and take a break."

Madison nodded. Telling Silver had been a lot worse for her than she'd thought it would be. For a while the girl had been a little hysterical, but had eventually settled down into sleep. Keris head still hurt, her stomach was twisted. Telling him earlier hadn't been an option, not while they were being trailed. Part of her was glad Dominic had shown up, the other part still felt sick.

Telling the truth wasn't supposed to hurt this bad… she put her head down on desk she was sitting at, curling her arms around her head. Silver was going to end up dead, and it was all her fault. If the plan had gone too far it wouldn't matter what she did anyway. Those two weeks were just a short delay of the inevitable.

Silver ground his teeth. "Again, work with _all_ the muscles in your body, not just the ones in your legs! Crobat, Tackle!"

The bat charged, and the puppy growled and leapt to the left… only to be clipped by its wing. The Poochyena snarled and jumped at Crobat, ending up smashing head first into the deck. It got up again, blood dripping from where his fangs had sliced into the bottom jaw. It glared at the Pokemon, snarling, vibrating with the anger.

The Crobat flapped around, deliberately turning its back on the new Dark type.

Silver shouted instructions, but the Pokemon was too far gone to hear. It crouched, and jumped at the Pokemon. Crobat turned to slash at him with his wings, quickly dodging the attack…

Poochyena gripped the bottom wing, slamming the Pokemon down onto the deck. It pinned its paws on the bats wings, snarling at it. The Pokemon struggled, and he snapped at it… no killing it. That's what his master said, no killing unless ordered to…

The puppy felt something lifting him. Crobat hissed angrily, flapping around the deck. Silver held his Pokemon at arms length, looking at it. He sighed, and sat down on the deck, setting the creature in his lap. "What are we going to do? You managed to catch Crobat, but you disobeyed an order. I don't know weather to be mad at you or be amazed."

He frowned at the Pokemon, who was wagging his tail and had a stupidly happy expression on its face.

He'd decided that he would talk to Keri tonight, at one of the hotels the city was supposed to have. He had to figure out what was going on in his head. There were too many things she'd left out, and Silver had a feeling that that was all she'd been able to say before completely falling apart. It had been easier to think in the shower last night, just the hot water running down his body. The cast had remained dry, although his entire leg ached. He'd managed to use one crutch in the shower and wash himself. Michael called it stupidly independent. He called it determined not to be bathed by a half crazy nurse he hardly knew.

"I should probably eat something. You've done well enough for now, come on." He managed to get to his foot using the crutches, and returned Crobat, then Poochyena.

.~.~.~.~.~

The Dragonite had a bandage on her arm, but that wasn't enough. Somehow that girl had managed to convince them that she couldn't use it, and was still no threat. Which was true, even if she did move her arm, the spikes around her shoulder would rip into her anyway. All she could do was lift it to see it, and it wasn't looking good.

The girl came back, looking nervous. She had a ring of keys. "I'm letting you out… I need you to take me with you."

Hannah could see her properly, it wasn't dark in the room anymore, lights on. It was the girl who had helped catch her, why would she help now? Hannah let out a short growl, suspicious. Viox sighed. "I'll explain… but right now we have to go."

She unlocked the rest of the chains, carefully removing the spiked ones. The dragon type had red welts all over her body. "I know this is a bad time, but can you fly?"

Hannah glared down at her, experimentally stretching her wings. The dragon nodded, and Viox barely had any time to open her mouth before the dragon grabbed her and smashed through a wall, using a hyper beam.

"_Jack, I'm coming._"

"_Hurry…_"

Fear spiked in the Dragonites mind as the word faded away, too carefully made and spoken in her consciousness. He was fading, too much energy… she knew he hadn't slept in days, and now he still wouldn't let go to give himself rest…

"_Jack! You're being stupid! Break the connection, break it! I can find you, I know where you are. The ocean is as familiar to me as you are!_"

"_I can't._"

Hannah almost stopped flying. "_Yes you can… you have to…_"

"_Hannah…_" It was almost a sigh of frustration, but it wasn't strong enough for that.

She began to panic, flying faster. The girl in her arms squirmed slightly, trying to get a little more comfortable. "He's dying isn't he?"

Hannah just let out a low growl, flying even faster… as fast as she could without harming the woman she was holding. How could he be dying? They had been fine yesterday!

"You two have an interesting connection… he's been taking your pain. It's killing him… isn't it?"

All the Dragon could do was nod, a small movement that Viox couldn't see. Yes, he had been taking her pain, blocking her still from taking it back… _she was killing him_. Wasn't that what he had said? He'd die before he left her?

He was killing himself to keep her alive.

.~.~.~.~.~

The boat was docked. Silver stepped down onto the pier. Under any other circumstances, he would have been planning on staying at the cities Pokécenter, and moving on. Instead he'd been looking at a map of the city, scouting out a couple of hotels. Pokécenters let you stay for days, up to a week, and were well built, but the walls were thin, and probably bugged. He hadn't bothered to take his backpack, he would leave it on the boat for now and get it when he'd found a place to stay.

Everyone else was busy getting an ambulance to the beach and getting Kat out of the boat, so that she could get to a real hospital. He'd told them that he'd find everyone a hotel. Keri hadn't come down to lunch. Part of him was angry at her, another part confused, but mostly he was just worried.

"You know, nothing good ever happens when you two are apart." The words were out of Michaels mouth before he could stop them.

Silver just glared at him, and moved away, the crutches being a pain in the sand. Soon he hit the sidewalk though, a small strip of cement that was covered in a thin, but permanent, layer of soft yellow sand. The sidewalk had been worn smooth by it, the sand sliding off like the surface was glass. No. Nothing good ever happened when they were apart.

"He's worried about you, you know," Madison said, handing Keri the mug of Cider. "He has to be, or else he would just be leaving. You're the only one here that really means anything to him."

Keri nodded. She still couldn't face him though, afraid. She wasn't sure what she was afraid of, if Silver was mad at her, she would know it. All that had happened was that he'd seemed stunned. She knew that something inside of both of them had changed, but for the better or worse was still to be decided. "I'm scared… I hurt him."

Madison sighed. "I honestly don't think anything short of cutting off his leg would keep him down for more than a couple hours. He's smart, you told him you were trying to get _out_ of Team Rocket, it's not like he can be mad at you for trying to get out of an organization that he hates."

"No, it's the fact that I was in it. Madison, I _killed_ someone. I know how to shoot a moving target from almost any distance if I have the right gun! And now I find out that they're going to KILL me! They probably would have anyway, but now I know that they were going to before I even met him!"

"I know. And your best bet of staying alive is sticking with him. I have to go buy supplies, are you sure you want to stay here?"

Keri took a drink. "Yes. I need to just think over things myself. I'll be fine. No one would come looking for me anyway, not until they have him."

Madison got up and walked up the stairs, glancing at her worriedly. Keri walked around the small space, just taking in everything. Her backpack was left untouched, hanging above her hammock. She took a couple deep breaths. The boat was peaceful. She grabbed the pack and pulled out the antidote case, and the phone.

One missed call. She flipped it open, and read through the message. Her heart skipped beat, then kicked up double time. She snapped it shut, and ran up to the control room, slamming open desk drawers until she found what she was looking for, a notebook and a couple pens. She shot back down the stairs.

She was crying again. She should have known that this would all end badly, she should have known better!

She wrote quickly, making sure her handwriting was legible, then shut the book and set the phone on top, grinding her teeth as she threw a few canned things and a box of granola bars into her backpack.

Keri glanced around the room, quickly spotting what she was looking for. She stripped and put on Dominic's uniform… it didn't fit quite right, but it was good enough. _No time no time no time!_

She grabbed her pack and tore the bottom off, a grinding sound as the Velcro ripped away. She quickly snapped on the belt and shoved the gun into it, no time to mess with hiding it.

She ran into the bathroom, forcing herself to calm down. The boys hat was sitting on the sink. She grabbed it, looking in the mirror. She frowned… she didn't have time for this…

She ran out into the room and searched around… It was a boat for Pete's sake! She finally found the scissors.

She glared at herself as she made a quick job of chopping off her hair. It wasn't the best job, but it was decent. She ground her teeth, back straight, one hand on her gun, the other quickly pulling on her hat, and pulling it down. She smiled, the hats shadow hiding her eyes, her brown hair spiking out just slightly in the back. She grabbed her pack, slipping out a pair of binoculars from a side pocket, and running up the stairs.

She threw the Pokéball out over the water, making a big show of it, and jumped down over the side of the boat. Her Wailmer hummed happily as she landed. "Go along the shore, when I tap you twice, I need you to go along the rout to the east as fast as you can, no stopping, okay girl?"

The Pokemon made a small noise, and swam parallel to the beach, not too slow, but slow enough that people eventually noticed the Team Rocket member scouting out the area. A couple of fishermen that seemed to have been watching her ran off after a second, towards a small hut… just a little longer…

"Get out a little further."

The Pokemon obeyed, going out into the waves. Keri crouched down on its back more, carefully watching through the pair of binoculars. She finally saw a pair of people in blue uniforms… closer… closer… Finally! They began shouting, throwing out a set of Pokéballs. Keri tapped her Wailmers back twice, shoved the binoculars into her belt, and crouched on the Pokemons back.

Keri hoped that her Wailmer could out swim them, hoped that the currents on the rout had adjusted for the summer, hoped that Wailmer could make it through them. She turned her head, watching the officers behind her… one of them had a Wailmer, that didn't seem to be trained, and the other was on the back of a Blastoise… _shitshitshit!_

He was catching up fast… soon he would be right on her tail, then he would be next to her… The Pokemon was faster than she thought. The officer pulled up with her, neck and neck. He stood at a slight crouch, baton in his hand. "Stop now!"

Keri had her head held just so he couldn't see her eyes… she slid the gun out of its case and fired a shot, barely clipping the mans ear. It was enough, he stumbled and fell off the Pokemon, shouting. Keri shoved it back, crouching low as they went into the current, smashing through the water. The man had to get back on his Blastiose…

Keri reached back and unzipped a pocket in her pack, snatching the item and zipping it back up. "Dive."

Keri held on tight as the Pokemon shot underwater, she looked around for something to hold onto, if she couldn't find anything she would be torn away by the current, and ripped to shreds. Finally she spotted a large rock, and steered her Pokemon in its direction, latching her arms and legs around it, she returned the Wailmer.

She took a couple deep breaths through the Gills, a device created by the rangers, and stolen by the rockets. She wasn't sure what the Rangers called them, but everyone at the bases had called them Gills. Her heart was pounding.

She had fired at an officer… hadn't even thought about it. Keri waited a couple minuites for her heart to calm down. She'd known she wouldn't hit him. It was too easy, she'd hit _moving_ targets from further away, the man had practically been standing still. He was lucky she'd been aiming to miss, although clipping his ear was unfortunate, she would have to work-

She softly hit her head on the rock. No more thinking like that! She sighed through the Gills. The police in that area would be on the look out for Team Rocket, and they wouldn't be able to use her… she shut her eyes, breathing deeply through the item. The air in the water seemed cleaner, fresher somehow. She would have given almost anything for it to be Silvers mouth against hers, instead of that stupid device.

XOX

You know, I love the transformation with Keri here, it shows you that she can really be a badass team rocket member, not just the overemotional girl who has a hard time figuring out what's going on. Actually, she has her mind very made up, it's just been difficult to get her to this point.

Detective Rain… arg. I know what I want to do there! It's just been really hard to get to it.

Sorry that this chapter is so short, just eight pages. I really did want to make it longer, but I couldn't. Where it ends is where I needed it to end, it just felt right. Of course, you know that the next chapter will be up in just a couple days.

What Keri is holding onto underwater is a petrified tree… just thought you should know, since it probably won't come up in the story. I've also changed it so that you can use dive just about anywhere, because if you're that far into the water, then it's probably deep enough for you to dive under it.

I did buy Soul Silver, I haven't been playing non stop, but I have been playing. The poke walker is amazing, I walk through school, and my Pokemon gains a level, so I've been switching out and going for walks on nice days. I just beat Whitney(who is a SPAZZ) and checked out the pokeatholon thing. I also entered the bug catching competition, and captured a Scyther. Unfortunately, I won't be using it on my team this time. I have Quilava, Fearow, Flaafy, and Skiploom so far. I plan on getting a Sneasel, and I've been using the poke radar so I can get a Psyduck. I can't believe that they've only been out for a week.

Dang, okay, this message is getting long. _I need complete maps of the Fiore and Almia regions_. I know on Serebii you can get information on the Pokemon and there are screen shots, but I'm talking an actual map that has the places, buildings, the layout. PM me if you have a website where I can find this. It's important for my next fic, and I need them before I start it.

Please tell me if you find any waffle mustards sitting out with fish stick syrups they're holding my brother hostage and I need to pay them. Oh, and something about grammar.

Thanks to Wolfstar-Wolfy-Hollyleaf for reviewing Chapters One, Two, Three, and Four.

Thanks to Frozen Cold for reviewing Chapters Four and Ten.

Thanks to xUNGracefulxAssassin for reviewing Chapters Four, Five, and Six.

Thanks to sierrap123 for reviewing Chapters One, Three, Four, Five, Six, Seven, and Ten.

Thanks to RedHerring1290 for reviewing Chapters Five Six, Seven Eight, Nine, and Ten.

Thanks to kaiyus for reviewing Chapters Seven and Eight.

Thanks to Dodectron for reviewing Chapter Nine.


	12. Chapter 12

I probably wouldn't read this one anywhere near… anyone. Pretty much the reason this is rated M in this chapter. (Or, well, more of it anyway.)

CHAPTER TWELVE

Madison dragged the bags up onto the boat, something didn't feel right. She stopped dead as she saw the officer… "What's the problem."

She hadn't even bothered asking IF there was a problem, she just knew better. The woman in blue bit her bottom lip. "A member of Team Rocket broke into your boat, a couple of fishermen saw him leaving. We were unable to capture the man, and he shot at an officer."

Madison shoved past and opened the door, running into the boat, looking around quickly… The officer followed. She looked around calmly. "Is there anything missing?"

Madison checked the cupboards, and ran up the stairs. She'd seen the notebook and phone on the table, and hoped it was a note from Keri… She took a couple deep breaths and walked down the stairs. "Just some food and water, nothing seems to be missing. We didn't have much… One of the packs is missing, but someone we're traveling with probably took it and went into the city."

The officer nodded. "If you find out that anything else is gone, feel free to call. We're going to start running patrols along the beach for a couple weeks."

Madison nodded, and the woman left, quietly closing the door behind her.

She quickly walked over to the table, moving the phone and opening the book. _Silver_ was written on it. She turned the next page. _Madison, this is for __Silver__. Do not read._ She laughed, and closed the book. That was a little creepy, but the girl must have changed her mind and gone into the city, and had left a not in case he came back without running into her.

She began putting the new groceries away, glad to see that only a little food and water was missing. Whoever had been in the boat had probably been looking for her. Madison felt uneasy, something wasn't right, she wasn't putting something together. She put up the last box, and placed a new gallon milk in the small refrigerator, then sat down, thinking. Something wasn't right…

Silver opened the door, going down the stairs… "I found a hotel… what's wrong with you, not enough groceries?"

Madison shook her head. "No… Something doesn't feel right. Keri went to the city looking for you I think, she left a note."

"Where'd this phone come from?" He flipped it open, then shut it, noticing the notebook.

"I think it's Keris." Madison frowned. Keri would have taken the phone with her, if that officer had insisted on looking around herself…

Silver opened the notebook, smirking at Keri's warning to Madison. He turned the next page…

_Silver,_

_I don't know how fast you'll get this, but I need you to read through the phone, it will explain just about anything I could, then get out. DO NOT LOOK FOR ME. Silver, if they find either of us,- _the words were scribbled out.

_Silver, if they find me, they'll use me to get to you. __I think they're going to kill you__. I __know__ they're going to kill me, unless I can get away. The last message on the phone is from a girl called Viox, she was partners with Kat while trailing us. I don't know why she decided to give me the information she did, but we have to trust her, because if she's lying, we never had a chance anyway, and if she's telling the truth, there may be a way to- _the writing stopped, then went to the next line.

_Silver, I LOVE YOU. I have never loved anyone more in my life, and I'm sorry, I'm sorry I can't talk to you, I'm sorry I had to go. I love you, remember that, I love you more than- There's nothing to compare it to. I need you to stay safe. If you hear anything from them, don't listen to it. They can't find me._

_I Love You… I'm sorry. I'm sorry I didn't tell you earlier, I'm sorry I hurt you Silver. You've saved my life too many times, it's my turn. _

_Silver, I love you._

He gripped the edge of the table with his right hand, the crutch with his left, rereading the page. _I love you._ He ground his teeth and flipped open the phone again, going through all the past messages…

"Silver…" Madison watched the boy…

"She's gone."

"What!?"

"Keri is gone. They found out. They were going to use her to get to me, and I would have gone." He turned around, trembling. With anger, determination, he grabbed his pack, shoving a couple bottles of water in and pulling a few random things off the shelves. "I'm going to find her."

"Wait! We don't know where she went!"

"She has a Wailmer!" He shouted, going up the stairs, as if that explained everything.

Madison had never seen someone move so fast in crutches.

.~.~.~.~.~

He was floating, he knew that much… More of his mind was with Hannah than his body. The Gyarados, surprisingly, hadn't tried to eat him yet… He couldn't move, the invisible infection coursing through his body. He'd been able to block it, keep blocking it… took too much energy. He was giving all of his to her. If anyone were to scan him, they would think he were in a coma. He stayed with Hannah, giving her his strength. She had to live, because she was the only one who could save him now.

He felt a sudden chill, but his body didn't react. The Gyarados growled. Detective Rains body was lifted up, the Pokéball for his Gyarados dug out of his pocket… too late. He felt his mind relax, slip into darkness. Carried by the waves…

.~.~.~.~.~

Silver glared at the two fishermen, who had their arms crossed. "Team Rocket, what did you see today."

"Don know if we should be telling you that." One of them said, glancing at the other.

"I don't like yer tone, sounds ike trouble."

Silver ground his teeth, keeping his breathing even. "My girlfriend is missing, I think Team Rocket has something to do with it." Yeah, think.

"And ow do we know _you_ aren't Team Rocket?"

"If I were part of team rocket, I would probably know what had happened."

"Aye, that's true. Well, then who are you?"

Silver sighed, quickly loosing patience. "I'll tell you, if you tell me what you saw today."

"Fair nuff. The boy was sittin on a Wailmer, and e ended up goin towards the currents, dangerous place, I don't know how the cops didn catch im. Now who are you?"

He turned around, going back along the pier towards the water as fast as he could. "Silver Giovanni."

The fishermen looked at each other. "He jus said Silver, didn e?"

"Aye, and Giovanni. Heard about im on the news… think we should go aftr im?" The man scratched his balding head.

"No, let im be. I heard e's actually a good'n. Goin after the Rockets. Can't be that bad if he's lookin fer a girlfriend."

The other man just nodded. "Specally wif a brokn foot."

Silver threw out Feraligatr's Pokéball, climbing carefully onto the pokemons back. He'd wrapped the cast in plastic that morning in case it rained, but he still didn't want to get it in the water.

"Maybe we shoulda stopped im."

The other fisherman just shrugged. "Never get betwehn a boy and 'is girl. Specally 'un that knows ow to kill."

The other fisherman just nodded, and went back to untangling a net.

Silver ground his teeth, holding tight to Feraligatrs spines. The Pokemon was rushing through the water, towards the dangerous water that he knew Keri had somehow managed to maneuver, managed to escape from the police through. A Blastoise pulled up next to him… "Hey! You!"

Silver glared as he told his Pokemon to stop. Frealigatr was agitated too, it wasn't every day he got to swim like that. "What?"

"Why are you in such a hurry? Didn't you hear, Team Rocket has been spotted in this area. There's no getting through the waters ahead anyway…" the officer examined him… "And you've got a broken foot."

Silver examined the officer, glaring at him. The man shifted uncomfortably at his silence. Finally the boy spoke. "What happened to your ear?"

The officer reached up and touched the edge of it, where it was wrapped in a bandage. "Almost got it shot off. The bullet cut a nice hole through a couple of places. It barely missed killing me. I'll have to ask you to turn back."

Had it really been Team Rocket, or had Keri actually shot at the man? Silver felt a little sick. "I have to keep going."

"Why kid? There's nowhere for you to go out there, it's just the currents. You won't get anywhere." The cop was getting suspicious.

"Then why are you bothering to stop me." He growled, anger flashing in his eyes. Every second wasted with this officer was a second wasted getting to Keri.

"A Team Rocket member went out that way today, I've been stopping everyone. Looking for suspicious people."

Silver ground his teeth, keeping his eyes level with the officers. "I am leaving. Whoever shot at you, was aiming to miss. And you're lucky they were."

The officer broke the gaze, and Silver shot off. "Fast as you can, straight into the currents. Be careful." His Pokemon growled beneath him, cutting through the water like a knife.

The policeman watched him leave, knowing that he should follow, and knowing that he wasn't going to. The boy was familiar, and he knew that taking him to the station was what he should be doing, but the kid had some sort of determination that he couldn't bring himself to get in the way of… at least not yet.

The officers radio buzzed. "Get to shore, Grant. We've got some information."

Grant stared in the direction that the boy had gone, then sighed. "Come on Blast, back to the beach."

.~.~.~.~.~

Madison stood in the doorway of the boat, nervous. There were two officers there already, the woman from before and a boy who looked like he was new. The two were sitting on the floor, Madison sat on the chair next to the desk with the Notebook. She'd read through it, and unable to think of anything else to do, had called the police using Keris phone. "This is the officer that was shot at? That you called?"

The boy nodded. "I was far behind, I couldn't keep up, but Grant caught up with him. I heard the shot and saw him fall. The Team Rocket guy got away, managing to force his way through the currents."

Madison frowned. After reading the note, she'd gone though the boat again, being more careful. Some of the food was gone, so was Keris backpack. It took her a minute to realize that Dominic's uniform was missing. She chewed her bottom lip slightly, if her suspicion was right, Keri had just shot at a Police officer… what had she been thinking!?

Madison heard the door open, and footsteps… "What's going on?" Michael…

"Madison?" Nathan.

"Come down, I would tell you that it's okay, but it's not." they tromped down the stairs, a little uncomfortable. Nathan sat next to Madisons chair, Michael stayed standing, close to the stairs.

"Who are you?" the officer asked, watching them. She had a notebook open, but only seemed to be drawing in it.

"I'll explain when the other officer gets here." Madison said, as Michael opened his mouth.

There was an uncomfortable silence for a while. They could hear the Wingull outside, yelling out to each other. Suddenly the door to the boat opened, making everyone jump. "Grant." The female officer said, almost relieved.

"Hey Jen, saw the strangest thing before you called, a boy in a cast on a Feraligatr. Not a Pokemon you see every day-" he stopped as he got to the bottom of the stairs. Madison was glaring at him.

"uhh…"

Madison just shook her head, and the officer leaned against the wall. Jen, she assumed, crossed her arms, waiting for her to begin. She took a deep breath, not entirely sure where to begin. She decided to start at the beginning. "Nathan and I were in Petalburg…"

.~.~.~.~.~

Jack started, taking a deep breath of air. His lungs filling with oxygen. Fear shot through his mind for a second, then he calmed down, relaxing into the pillow… pillow!

He opened his eyes, squinting at the light, then letting them focus. He was in a hospital… at least it looked like a hospital. It didn't take him long to remember what had happened, remember blacking out. Hannah! He sought out her mind… there. Wasting no time he slid off the bed, shakily getting to his feet. It took him a few seconds to be able to stand.

He walked out of the room, a little dizzy, holding onto the walls when he was about to fall over. It took him a couple minutes to get to the room she was in. For a hospital it was rather… empty. He walked in, and sat down on a chair next to her bed, utterly exhausted. Why would they keep a Dragonite in a hospital? It took a few more minutes for him to realize that he must be in a Pokécenter… Why would they keep a human in a Pokécenter?

A nurse walked into the room, and Jack looked at her, slowly turning his head. She stared at him for a second. "When did you wake up?"

"Few minutes ago… maybe." his voice sounded gravely.

"But you had almost…"

"Zero brain activity. It happens." He croaked, not thinking.

The nurse glared at him. "No, not usually. And she came in here, beat up with wounds, and dragging you, who we couldn't find any real physical problem with other than exhaustion."

"She had blood poisoning… I had to help her fight it off…" He was having a hard time keeping his eyes open.

"What are you talking about?" The nurse Joy was confused, the man wasn't making any sense. How could he have helped fight blood poisoning?

"We share… our minds. Strange gift from a strange Pokemon. Gave her my energy…" He couldn't keep his eyes open, and leaned against the bed, his head resting on the Dragonites arm. He could talk to the nurse later.

The nurse Joy stared at the man in confusion. Was he delusional or something? Something about sharing minds and strange Pokemon? The man was soundly asleep now, laying on his Pokemons arm. She thought about moving him, but he wasn't hurting anything, and she would probably have to call people to help her. It was nothing new for a trainer to fall asleep next to their Pokemon anyway, she would just have to check in more often.

"_You almost died._"

"_Almost._"

"_Almost won't save you forever._"

"_Just as long as I can save you._"

"_Don't be stupid._"

"_I'm always stupid._"

"_Jack…_"

"_I know Hannah, love you too._"

.~.~.~.~.~

"So now Keri is missing, and Silver has gone off to find her." Madison finished.

Grant whistled. "I should have grabbed him when I saw him. This isn't exactly good."

Jen shot a glare at him. "You should have recognized him, there is a wanted poster at the station, you know."

Grant just shrugged. "You know, it's probably better that I didn't, or I would be dead. Although now both of your friends are wanted by the police, you know. She did shoot at me, it barely missed."

Madison grimaced. "I don't think she was aiming to kill."

"That's what Silver said…" He muttered.

"So what can we do about this?" Michael asked, arms crossed. "Silver, who has a broken ankle, has gone off after Keri, who Team Rocket wants to use as bait to get to him. Since I met him, he's changed, but nothing can stop him from going after her, so what can we do about Team Rocket?"

The officers were silent, until the boy spoke. "Not much, really. We can watch for them, try and catch them, but no one has had any luck. To be honest, normal trainers have had more luck taking them out than we have."

Everyone was silent for a few minutes. Michael finally stood straight. "Fine. I'm going to see what I can find out about them. Obviously your hands are tied, so I'm not just going to sit here doing nothing." He walked up the stairs.

Madison and Nathan shared a glance, and followed. The officers stood and went up after them. "Nathan… I don't think we're going to see them again… not for a long time."

He nodded. "I'd like to say you were wrong, but I know better."

Madison watched the officers leave. "You know, we have the boat to ourselves…"

Nathan turned to her, a slightly shocked look on his face. "Part of me wants you to be joking. Silver and Keri have just gone missing, and you…"

She shut him up. "Nathan, have I ever been wrong?"

"No…"

"We're going to see them again, probably not for a few years though."

"Okay…"

"Now lets go in the boat." She whispered in his ear.

.~.~.~.~.~

Silver stood on the patch of sand, staring out at the rushing water. His Pokemon flashed out of the ocean, landing on the beach. The Pokemon growled, staring back at the water. Silver leaned on his crutches. It was getting dark. "Take me out this time, two sets of eyes are better than one."

Feraligatr growled as Silver climbed onto its back, then dove into the water. Silver winced as it rushed past his face. On the beach he'd changed into his swimsuit. He'd figured that as long as he was going to be getting wet, he may as well wear it. He felt his lungs strain as they dove deeper, but calmly guided his Pokemon. He searched the dark water, finally spotting something worth investigating. His Pokemon carefully swam… nothing.

Then Silver saw something out of the corner of his eye…

Keri stared, watching Silver. She'd been underwater for hours, soaked thorough and almost unable to hold on through the current. Her legs were still tightly wrapped around the strange rock. She knew that he wouldn't give up until he'd found her… She let one of her arms go, and waved it through the water.

Silver guided his Pokemon, soon he would need air… to see an arm waving through the darkness. Feraligatr sped over, and Silver grabbed her arm, staring into her eyes. She removed the machine on her face, and pressed it against his. He took a couple deep breaths, then put it back on her, gripping the rock she was holding onto. He returned his Pokemon, wrapping a leg around the rock.

Keri stared at him, then shook her head once. Silver grabbed the mask off her face and pressed his mouth against hers, wrapping an arm around her and the rock.

She immediately reacted, pressing her body as close as possible, wrapping her arms around him, just the stupid rock in the way! She carefully moved her legs, stretching one around his body, she released the kiss, breathing through the mask, then handing it to Silver. He breathed through it, then looked up.

He tapped the Pokéball on the side of the rock, and Feraligatr appeared. Silver pointed to Keri, then himself, and pointed up. The Pokemon grabbed them both, and made its way to the beach where they had been before. Silver returned the Pokemon, then stared at Keri.

"How did you know I was down there?" She was taking deep breaths of air.

He couldn't even talk, he just rolled over in the sand and grabbed Keri, kissing her… "Don't ever do that again."

"I'm sorry…"

"Promise, never again." he growled, pressing his mouth back against hers.

"They're going to kill you…" She mumbled through his kiss, then slowly running her tongue along his lips, pressing in close to him, hands in his hair, down his back…

"You forgot something about me… Keri." He slid his hands up her shirt, up and down her back, touching every part of her he could reach.

"What…" His tongue made its way into her mouth…

He pulled away for a second. "I love you too."

He slowly began pulling off her shirt, but couldn't stop kissing long enough to pull it away, and then there was another thing keeping it on, the backpack. Keri slid her hands down, sliding her fingers into the back of his swimsuit, slowly peeling the piece off the sopping wet boy. Silver gave up trying to get the wet shirt off and unhooked her bra, sliding his hands down to her breasts. Keri made a short growling sound in the back of her throat, arching her back slightly.

Silver smirked, then kissed along her jaw line, "I have never," he murmured, kissing to the edge of her ear, "seen anyone look so hot," back to her mouth, slowly up to her other ear, "in a Team Rocket uniform."

Keri blushed, opening her eyes to see his silver ones staring back at her. "I promise, never again." She whispered, kissing him. She kicked her boots off, then shoved down her pants, one arm around his back. She managed to get the pack off, Silver tore the shirt off, both of them kissing through the fabric until it was gone.

Silver wrapped one arm around her waist, the other slowly tracing the sides of her legs, kissing down to her chest… Keri groaned, her body pressing to his, back arching off the sand… She hissed, letting out a short moan as he traced the edges of her vagina, kissing back up her chest.

Silver couldn't hold back anymore, shoving into her. Keri moaned, wrapping her legs around him, her body taking control "Silver!" She groaned, body rocking with each of his thrusts… He was kissing her neck, chest, shoulders, slowly back up to her mouth, wrapping his tongue with hers. She moved with him, shoving onto him as he pulled out, tangling her hands in his soaking wet hair…

XOX

Uh… wow. I have to be honest, I didn't mean for it to actually get that far, I was going to stop writing after he got her shirt off, but I couldn't. Sorry…

So… We have seen the last of Madison and Nathan for a while. Dominic and Katrina are in the hospital, and what Michael is doing right now will appear in another chapter, so will Viox. Dominic borrowed some of Nathans clothes, because he could hardly be seen walking around a hospital in his uniform…

I honestly think that's it… Definitely putting up a warning here…

Thanks to Wolfstar-Wolfy-Hollyleaf for reviewing Chapters One, Two, Three, and Four.

Thanks to Frozen Cold for reviewing Chapters Four and Ten.

Thanks to xUNGracefulxAssassin for reviewing Chapters Four, Five, and Six.

Thanks to sierrap123 for reviewing Chapters One, Three, Four, Five, Six, Seven, and Ten.

Thanks to RedHerring1290 for reviewing Chapters Five Six, Seven Eight, Nine, Ten, and Eleven.

Thanks to kaiyus for reviewing Chapters Seven and Eight.

Thanks to Dodectron for reviewing Chapter Nine.


	13. Chapter 13

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

Silver let his fingers play down her back, then up her front, slowly breaking the kiss. "So… I disappear for a couple hours… and you cut off all your hair… get the police patrolling the waters… and shoot an officer in the ear. What were you thinking?"

"I was thinking that if I got people on the watch for Team Rocket, it would be harder for them to get to you… or me." She buried her head in his hair, kissing up to his jawbone, then to his mouth.

"Makes sense… now why didn't you take me with you?"

"I had to get their attention… Silver, they're going to use me…"

Silver put his hands on either side of her face, staring into her eyes. "And I would have come running, broken bone or no, like I did. You should know better." His ankle itched, and was throbbing. He ignored it. "I love you."

Keris tongue was exploring his mouth… maybe for the sixth or seventh time. Blood rushing in her ears… "More than anything… I love you…" she mumbled… not saying the last part of her thought. More than my freedom… She would give up anything for him… had given up everything, and gained twice that.

They weren't sure how long they had slept, or if they had slept at all. The night had come an gone, the two teenagers still wrapped around each other on the small beach, sand caked and dried on them. Having alternated between complete mind numbing bliss, short pieces of conversation, and shallow sleep… Silver was sure that it was at least noon, the sun beating down on them. "We should go somewhere…" he muttered into her ear.

She hmmed quietly. "Where?"

He frowned into her hair… where… "I don't know."

"Lets just stay here for a while…" She curled closer into him, then blushed as her stomach growled.

"We should probably eat something." He said, slowly sitting up. He looked around the beach, surprised that any sand could gather in such strong currents. He gritted his teeth as he looked at his cast, still partially wrapped in the plastic. He'd gotten it wet. Soaked. So now on top of the throbbing, it itched like crazy.

Keri followed his gaze, looking at the cast. She frowned. "Maybe this wasn't such a good idea…"

Silver smirked. "I probably messed it up pretty bad… nothing I can do about it right now, may as well eat… probably should put on some pants too."

Keri looked around… she wasn't entirely sure she wanted to put on the clothes she'd been wearing before… "Yeah… probably. I forgot my other bra on the boat."

Silver smiled. "You were underwater for a couple hours… I don't really think anything that was in your pack is dry anyway."

"Waterproofing. When you zip it up it seals completely. A useful invention, of course, Team Rocket won't share. I think it needs a new coat every two years or so…" she stared up at the sky, a single fluffy cloud floating past.

Silver pulled off the rest of the plastic, examining the cast. He would have to take it off somehow. "I'm surprised that they didn't just sell it, would probably make them a lot of money. There are people who would buy it."

"Waterproof backpacks aren't new, just the fact that it comes in a can is." She stood and walked over to get her pack, then found his, sitting next to the pair of crutches.

"The fact that it comes in a can is genius, because you don't have to just use it on backpacks. Would have been useful for this cast." Silver watched her, heart speeding up, the curve of her sides, he could see the slight movement of the muscles in her shoulders and back…

Keri frowned, then walked back over, crouching in the sand. "They gave me a lot of the prototype stuff… At least a couple of the little things. I honestly haven't gone through everything in the pack since they packed it."

She unzipped all the pockets, and after carefully pulling out her clothes, dumped everything else on the beach. "There's probably something for that." She put her clothes back in the backpack.

"How the hell did they fit all that in there?"

Keri frowned at him. "In the packs there's a scanner, it minimizes the items as long as they're inside of it… I figured that they all had that."

"You've been part of Team Rocket for too long."

Keri just shrugged. "Then I decided to quit because they're all obnoxious assholes, yay. Now help me go through this mess, I think the can is labeled DRY, or something just as obviously and badly named."

Silver smirked, and started going through the pile of supplies. A few minutes later he picked up a small plastic bag, then glanced at Keri, who looked up at it. She blushed red, very bright red, there was a little package of pills inside, among a few other things. "Probably should have considered using those for once…"

"Probably… I take it you forgot about them?" He set the bag next to the growing pile of items. Most of them were your typical training items.

"Never needed them before. Or the condoms. A little late for that, I guess."

"We should probably remember those, next time. Why would they pack that?"

"You'd be surprised with how many team members get pregnant. Most of them aren't exactly very… focused, on missions. Especially when recruiting. They always give the girls a package of pills, most of them use them."

"You didn't."

"Never needed to before… I'm usually pretty focused…" She looked carefully at another item, placing it in her little pile of supplies. Sex hadn't once been on her mind since starting, just the mission ahead… except for now… and she was still naked.

Keri giggled, grinning up at Silver. He looked up at her, eyebrows raised. "What?"

"We're looking through an entire bag of supplies, while sitting here naked." She grinned, giggling.

Silver smirked. "I'd noticed… Throw me my pack and I'll put some pants on."

Keri threw him his pack, and he pulled out a pair of jeans. She grabbed her clothes out of hers, walking over to the water to wash some of the sand off her body. Just by the edge it was calm enough to let the water pull the sand away. Silver did the same, just submerging the entire lower half of his body. The cast was already soaked, didn't matter. "We'll probably have to cut the cast off."

"I was hoping not." she sighed, as he pulled himself out of the water. He got to one foot, balancing on it. Keri giggled. "You look ridiculous."

He rolled his eyes, pack in one hand, and grabbed a towel, drying off his bottom half. "Couldn't help me a little, could you?"

She smiled, almost evilly, at him. "Is this Silver, asking for help?" She stood, walking around him.

"A rare occasion, cherish it. Now help me dry off so I can put these pants on."

"And what if I don't want you to put your pants on?" She growled, wrapping her arms around his shoulders, leaning into his back slightly. She grabbed the towel, carefully wiping the water off of his around the cast, one arm around his chest, holing him up. She slowly rubbed up his leg.

Keri handed him back the towel, leaving him breathing heavy… "Keri…"

"We do need to get dressed." She handed him a crutch, and he leaned on it while pulling on the pants.

"That was…"

"Mean?"

"And incredibly sexy." He half glared at her. "Don't tease me."

"Why not?" She pouted, making a show out of using his towel to dry off her legs. "I get the best reactions out of you…"

"Sometimes…" he growled, pulling her to him with the arm that wasn't holding the crutch… "I have a very hard time controlling myself…" He crushed his lips against hers, pressing into her body. "And we need to get out of here…" He let his hand explore her body… "Before Team Rocket finds us." He broke off, and moved back a little. "So put on your shirt." He growled, body tingling from where hers had touched his.

Keri smiled and pulled on her shirt, then pants, not bothering with underwear. "We should probably eat something too." She said, as her stomach growled again.

"Probably, do you have anything we could sit on?"

Keri looked around, then grabbed a small package out of her pile of stuff, unwrapping it and spreading it out. "Emergency blanket."

Silver sat down on the silvery material. "How many of these to you carry around?"

"Three or four. They don't ever pack them unless it's winter, I buy them." She sat down across from him, the material crinkling under her feet. She set down all of the food from both packs between them.

"We probably should have grabbed more food." She said, looking at it. A box of energy bars, two cans of peaches, a can of beans, a box of crackers, a can of SPAM, a can of mixed vegetables, four cans of mini hotdogs, and six bottles of water.

"Probably. I'm not eating the spam." Silver said, frowning at the can.

"Why not? It honestly doesn't taste as bad as people make it out to be."

Silver shook his head. "We're on an ocean, there's more sodium in that can than there is in the water. Drinking from the ocean would probably be healthier than eating that. Other than that, I hear it's great in grilled sandwiches." He grabbed a bottle of water, drinking half of it. He hadn't realized how thirsty he was.

"Lets just open the can of peaches, and save the spam until there's nothing left."

"You have a can opener?"

Keri looked over her pile of stuff… then grabbed a Pokéball out of her pocket. "Scyther!"

The Pokemon appeared, looking around. It looked at Silver, then questioningly at Keri. "Scythe?"

"Forgot a can opener…" The Pokemon rolled its eyes as Keri pointed to the can of peaches, neatly slicing the top off. It scanned the small beach, then quickly ran off to look around.

"How much Pokemon food do you have?" She asked, looking at Silver.

"About six cans. You?"

"Three. Scyther usually hunts for herself, so does Wailmer. It's just Slackoth who needs to be fed." A second later, her Pokemon ran back, a dead Krabby in its mouth. It sat down a little ways off and ripped open the shell.

"She usually eat in front of you like that?"

"She's keeping an eye on me. Probably wants to know what's going on." Keri threw a Pokéball out over the water, Wailmer appearing. It stayed close to the edge of the island, where the current wasn't as strong. She released Slackoth, who just curled up lazily and went to sleep. Keri scratched its head, and it yawned.

"You haven't told her about the change of plans?" He released his Pokemon, who greeted Keris with short growls, and wandered around. The Poochyena stopped to sniff at Slackoth, who cracked open an eye, and gave him a quick slash the face.

The Pokemon growled, not bleeding, and snapped at Slackoth. "Cool it." Silver glared at it, and the Pokemon growled, then lay down, a couple feet away.

"What on earth was that for?" Keri asked the Pokemon.

It opened an eye… "Koth," then yawned and went back to sleep.

She sighed and shook her head. "You move slower than molasses while training, but can slash his Pokemon quicker than lightening for no reason?"

It ignored her. She shook her head and grabbed a plastic bag out of her pile of stuff, opening it and tossing Silver a fork. "Yay peaches." She stabbed one with her own.

"You've been training it?"

"A little. She doesn't like it, and usually falls asleep. I figure that she'll battle when she wants it, there's no point in trying to force her."

He stabbed a peach quarter and pulled it out of the can. "You know, a couple years ago I would have disagreed with you… What about Scyther and Wailmer?"

"Scyther has been with me since I was twelve. Training isn't even an issue. I got Wailmer a year ago, but battling scares her. She listens to what I tell her to do, but she won't battle unless I make her. One of the older rockets gave her to me, saying she was useless-" Keri heard a crunch as the water bottle in Silvers hand was smashed. She was glad it was only half full, or the water would have gotten everywhere.

"One of the admins of Rose didn't want her to end up dead, and knew I would take care of her. He said it was useless in front of the other rockets, because just handing someone a Pokemon usually spreads rumors. So instead he pretended to embarrass me, and I got a good Pokemon out of it. Not everyone in Team Rocket likes what's going on there." She carefully pulled the bottle out of his hand.

"Then why don't more of them get out?"

"Well, for one, they usually _end up dead_. And for two, it's easier to tear something apart from the inside." She decided to leave out the fact that it was the same Rocket who had given her the mission of following him. She wasn't sure if the man was actually trying to help her anymore, but decided that she'd figure that out if it came to it.

Her Scyther stood, darting to her, and glaring at the boy for a second, as his Crobat flapped around, looking like it was keeping watch. "Ther." It pointed a scythe at Silver.

"Change of plans."

"Scythe?" She crossed her scythes, the small word sounding like a question and a command at the same time.

"We're not going to be battling Silver anymore, actually, we aren't even considering it."

Her Pokemon looked at her questioningly, then snickered, going back to the Krabby, shaking its head.

"What was that about?" Silver asked, staring questioningly at the Pokemon.

"She heard us talking about Team Rocket."

"And she laughed at you?"

"She thinks the fact that I fell in love with you is funny." She ate another piece of peach, tracing one of the little wrinkles of the blanket.

"I don't." He wondered how the Pokemon could have figured it out so fast…

"She has an interesting sense of humor, but you have to admit, the person I was supposed to be hunting down and making sure is unable to battle when faced with others from Team Rocket, ends up being the person I fall in love with? It's a little ironic." She took a drink from the crushed bottle.

"How did that happen anyway? Why you?"

"I got the Tattoo removed for one, so that immediately made me a candidate. I mostly volunteered, since I told them I would do almost anything to get out. There was another girl they were considering, but I beat her at target practice." She wouldn't meet his eyes, staring at the syrup left from the peaches. She played in it with her fork.

"And they sent you out to follow me?"

"Yeah, pretty much. I spent a month getting some information, then they put me on the same boat as you to Hoenn. After a week, I noticed that you knew I was following you, so I just made it obvious. There was no point in hiding if you already knew what to look for. What surprised me is that you didn't try harder to loose me."

She looked up into his eyes. "I'm glad I didn't." He smirked, remembering yelling at her for following after him.

"Me too."

It was quiet for a few minutes. "Keri, when did you decide to stop giving out real information to Team Rocket?"

She looked at the crinkles in the blanket. "You kissed me." She whispered.

"When did you start falling in love with me?"

Keri traced the little folds. "Do you mean when, or do you mean when I acknowledged it?"

"Both."

"When you finally… sort of told me I could travel with you, I started dreaming about you… I tried to just shove it all away… I had a job. Everything they'd said about you was… wrong. I could see it in you, that maybe at one time some of the things they'd said were true… but Silver, there wasn't anything I could do about it. I couldn't stop watching you, thinking about you. Every time you looked at me, I wished you would say something. It took me until that Kiss to realize that I could even be with you, I finally let it all take control. My heart and mind began to fight, that's part of why I got sick, I couldn't be in love with you, it was suicide, but not being with you, that would have been worse. It would have killed me, torn me apart inside. Silver. It was that Kiss… just hours before, I'd made up my mind to just get the job done… then you Kissed me Silver. You Kissed me and everything changed. I still had doubts though, scared about how you would react when you found out I was… had been, part of Team Rocket. I couldn't loose you." She took a deep breath.

"You punched Detective Rain, and it terrified me, because something sparked through there, something that I had never seen before. I couldn't sleep that night, and I spoke with Madison, told her everything. She told me I already had my mind made up… that if I loved you, there weren't any other decisions to make, and she's right. I shoved away any doubts, any fears that I had. You were everything… are everything." She looked up into his eyes.

"I don't know when I started falling in love with you, but what changed everything… It was your Kiss, Silver. I feel like I've loved you forever, because my whole life changed when you Kissed me."

Silver stared into her eyes… they were beautiful eyes, a deep blue, with flecks of purple. He carefully moved in closer, setting the peach can in the sand. He stroked her hair, now just shorter than his, there was nothing that could have made him look away at that moment. He could hear a strange sound, but didn't bother to look around, not wanting to spend a second looking at anything else, not a second away from her. "I love you."

His head buzzed, slowly molding her lips to his, he opened his mouth slightly and kissed her again, slowly wrapping his arm around her waist, the other stroking her hair and the back of her neck, leaning in to feel every part of her, the scent of the ocean, the feel of a slight breeze on his back, her hand twining into his hair, pulling him closer, the feel of the metallic blanket crinkling underneath him, her lips moving against his.

Then the gun clicked, and the hair on the back of his neck rose. He shut his eyes, the hand in her hair sliding down to grip the material of the blanket. Keri froze, and Silver held her closer, breaking the kiss and holding her to his chest. "This is better than the original plan."

Keri held onto him tighter, fear shooting through her body. She kept her eyes shut, listening to the beat of his heart. It was strangely calm.

The Team Rocket member spoke again, Silver could hear his shoes crackling on the emergency blanket. "That was a beautiful confession, Keri Fletcher. Unfortunately, I'll have to put a bullet in you for it. Not now of course, and you were wrong about one thing, we want him alive. It'll be easy to break him now, because of you."

"Your Pokemon aren't exactly happy with me, if they get any closer, I may just have to kill one of you." Silver heard the other small movements stop, the muscles in his back tightened.

"Grant, put your gun away, I've got it. You're just pissed at her because you're missing a piece of your ear."

"I can handle it Jen, just get the Pokemon rounded up."

Silver heard more steps, knew that they were picking up their Pokéballs, returning their Pokemon, the sound of each Pokemon being changed and returned to the item. "Stupid Poochyena!" He heard a yelp, a shot scuffling noise, then the beam of the Pokéball, his Pokemon being returned.

"Don't bother trying to call them out, we've sealed the Pokéballs, the only way to get them out is to remove the seal."

Neither trainer responded.

"Alright, now get up and walk, you'll have to have your eyes open if you don't want to end up drowning. I also have to thank you for rounding up Dominic and Katrina for us, although neither of them are any use to us now." Keri ground her teeth, opening her eyes and slowly standing with Silver.

"Viox went off the handle though, escaping to find that Detective. Too bad we couldn't get all six of you, we did leave your friends alone, at least for now. That nurse, he's decided to stick his nose where it doesn't belong." Jen grinned at them, Silver gripped Keri's hand.

"Jen, shut up. You're giving them too much information. Just put the cuffs on." Keri winced as a pair of metal handcuffs snapped onto her wrists. They turned her around, so her back was to Silver, and put the chain on his through the chain on hers, tying them together.

"What's the fun of being the bad guy if you don't get to rant?"

"Not getting killed by Silver." Grant said, an unamused look on his face.

They were led to a small motorboat, Keris arms already beginning to ache. She could get out of the handcuffs, piece of cake. Why would they think that a normal pair would stop her? "Hun, I know what you're thinking, don't try it. These handcuffs have a nice set of teeth, if you try that trick, they'll just pop out and chew up your wrists, so I'd leave it alone if I were you."

She glared at the woman. The ride in the boat was rough, every bump making the cuffs dig into her wrists, but short. Soon they were standing again, on another small island, where there was a helicopter. Keri leaned her head back, whispering in his ear. "What are we going to do?"

"For once, I'm at a loss." he frowned as they climbed into the machine. They slammed the door on them after making sure they were sitting in the middle of the floor.

Keri leaned her head back against his shoulder, fighting off tears. "I love you."

Silver carefully squeezed her hand, looking straight ahead. He had no clue how to get out of this, he hadn't even seen it coming. "I love you too Keri. More than anything."

"More than anything." She echoed.

XOX

Pretty much a whole chapter of Silver and Keri there. Haven't had that since chapter two, I think. Wait… no, just chapter one. Wow.

Silver seemed very… unSilverish, this chapter. Keri's been softening him up. No worries though, Silver is still Silver, he's just got someone to take care of now.

Thanks to Wolfstar-Wolfy-Hollyleaf for reviewing Chapters One, Two, Three, and Four.

Thanks to Frozen Cold for reviewing Chapters Four and Ten.

Thanks to xUNGracefulxAssassin for reviewing Chapters Four, Five, and Six.

Thanks to sierrap123 for reviewing Chapters One, Three, Four, Five, Six, Seven, and Ten.

Thanks to RedHerring1290 for reviewing Chapters Five Six, Seven Eight, Nine, Ten, Eleven, and Twelve.

Thanks to kaiyus for reviewing Chapters Seven and Eight.

Thanks to Dodectron for reviewing Chapter Nine.


	14. Chapter 14

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

Keri groaned, her shoulders aching, neck sore. After the ride in the helicopter, they'd been led into a building, and half shoved down some stairs. Keri had been surprised, they'd actually given them a room, a real room, that had a carpet and two beds. Keri had actually laughed, seeing two. They'd unhooked the handcuffs, guns aimed at them until they had the door locked. It wasn't the kind of door you broke down either, the metal slid into place, through the wall for about five inches, and only locked on one side. It would be easier to smash down a brick wall with your fists.

"You okay?" Silver muttered into her hair.

"Just my shoulders, your ankle okay?"

They had shoved the two beds together, but hadn't done much, knowing that there were at least three cameras trained on them. She curled in closer to his chest. "No. Making me walk on it wasn't their best plan, if the pain killers were from anyone else I'd have taken them by now."

She frowned, then moved slightly, lifting up her head to kiss him. "Any better?"

He sighed, pressing his face into her hair. "Yes… and no."

Keri knew what he meant. After leaving them down there alone for a while, someone had wheeled in a couple of things, cutting off Silvers old cast and taking an X-ray, then they had put a new cast on, the whole time both of them were held at gunpoint. Keri wondered if it were possible for her to get a gun from one of the guards, then decided that it would be a bad idea to even try. Even if she got one, would she be able to shoot a guard with it? Probably not. She couldn't see a way out, neither could he.

The room had a nice carpet, and a bed, there was even a bathroom, with a tub and shower. Someone had brought in food, but they hadn't touched it. Keri had been able to find paper and a pen in a desk in the corner, and wrote NOT UNLESS IN UNOPENED CAN on a sheet, standing with her back to the door, where she knew that one of the cameras would see her. She stood there for a good ten minutes, then had sat down on the bed. About three minutes later they'd come back, collecting the food and carting a small refrigerator into the room. At this point, Keri had shouted at them. "How long are you going to keep us in here!?" She hadn't gotten an answer.

A couple more people had been in and out, but they'd ignored them, just laying together. Every time, they'd still had two people with guns on them anyway. Silver hadn't ever felt more hopeless. He didn't even have his normal cocky attitude towards them, just staying silent. "Silver?"

"Yeah?"

"What do you think it would have been like if we were just two normal people?"

"Keri, if we were just two normal people, we probably wouldn't have been anything. We probably never would have met, I would still be in Johto, training, you would be here in Hoenn, probably not locked in a cell."

"Then I guess I can say that I'm glad I'm here."

Silver looked at her, slightly astounded. "Keri…"

"If I hadn't gone on that mission, if I hadn't joined Team Rocket, I never would have met you. Silver, I love you, and I wouldn't trade being with you, right now, for anything in the world."

Silver wrapped his arms around her, holding her as close as possible, so she couldn't look up and see the tears running down his face. Anything in the world… "Love you too…" he whispered.

.~.~.~.~.~

Giovanni watched them carefully. Glaring at them both. He was glad, in a way, that nothing had gone according to plan, except the fact that Grant and Jennifer had gotten his Pokemon.

Keri had been one of the best, better than some of his Admins. She'd never failed a mission, never lost her target, never messed around with the people she'd been told to try and recruit. Yet here she was, declaring her love to this boy. Not only her target, but her ticket to getting out, _actually_ getting out, not just the lie that was told to some members. He supposed she hadn't been told that, but it didn't matter anyway, looking back on her reports, she'd made her decision before finding out.

This wasn't something he'd foreseen happening, in his mind Keri had been perfect, because her defenses had been flawless. Nothing had gone wrong with her before, so why would it now? Of course, she had made it easier to get to Silver, but he was disappointed that he would have to kill the girl now… Probably.

He'd never actually liked killing, it was a horrible for business, but sometimes it just had to be done. The girl, if released, would find some way to get back to Silver, to get him out. So, unfortunately, he would have to get someone to kill her. At least he would make sure they did it quickly. Probably painlessly.

He stood in front of the monitors, hands clasped behind his back. He'd at least given the bathroom some privacy, there wasn't anything in there they could use to escape, he'd made sure of that. He wondered how long it would take them to figure out there weren't any cameras in the small side room.

"You wanted to see me sir?" Giovanni smiled, not bothering to turn around.

"Andrew, yes, I did. Do you have any clue why you're here, instead of still running the operation in Rustboro?"

Andrew Hess felt the hair on the nape of his neck stand on end. "No sir."

"Don't lie to me."

No way on earth the man could know… "Some girls, sir, have gone… missing."

"Oh? And do you know where they've gone?"

He swallowed hard. "Missing. Sir."

Giovanni smiled, back still to the man. "You just said that Andrew. Is your memory slipping? Is that why you don't know where some of our members have been disappearing to?" His tone was on the edge of mocking.

"No sir…"

"And how about Detective Rain? I told you anything, within the base. Viox, who has also gone missing, wasn't finished analyzing them. Did you know that I've been in direct contact with her, since she _escaped_? Escape being her word, not mine. She was actually rather keen on protecting Rains Dragonite."

"Really sir? Was she recaptured?"

"No Hess, she was not recaptured. I let her go after a couple of tests."

"Why, sir?"

"Andrew, tell me again why those girls went missing?" Giovanni was enjoying playing with him, it was easy, like a cat playing with a rat, and eventually the rat would just give up and die.

Andrew remained silent, he was sweating.

"You killed them, didn't you? After you'd had your fun, and didn't want word getting out, it was simple enough to make them disappear, wasn't it?"

Still silent, the man wondered if his Pokemon were fast enough- no, they'd taken the Pokemon away before sending him in… he was alone. "Sir.."

"You got careless. I'm disappointed in you, Andrew Hess. I'd heard about your actions outside of the bases, it was only a matter of time before I knew it would come to something like this. I'm surprised that you actually got away with it for so long."

He took a small step backwards. He'd known it would only be a matter of time, after Viox had gotten away, but this fast… "What are you going to do?"

"What do you _think_ I'm going to do, Andrew? I can't have something like that going on in the bases. I can understand getting rid of the occasional trainer who doesn't know to keep their nose out of our business, but I think you've more than overstepped that line. I think It's only appropriate to give you what you deserve."

"You're going to kill me?" The man had backed against the door all the way now.

"No. I'm sending you to jail, because killing you isn't a fair punishment. You will be surrounded at all times, Andrew, day and night, with people you are not allowed to touch, to speak to, to look at. You will be completely alone, and completely powerless. Of course, you'll know I'm watching you. Now, you can run, but you won't get very far. Five second head start, hurry up." Giovanni held up a hand, fingers counting down, but the man was already out the door.

He pressed a small button next to one of the monitors. "Don't forget to leave the Tattoo, so everyone knows to avoid him."

"Anything else, sir?"

"Just make sure that he's in the secure facility in Almia. They've increased security since we started working in that region. A little ice should be good for him."

"Yes sir."

Giovanni released the button. There was one problem gone.

Now to address the two on the monitor. His son, and obviously, the girl he was in love wi… were those tears?!

Giovanni clutched the table, eyes squinting at the monitor, glaring at it. He was, he was _crying_. Silver never cried! How far had this girl dug, how could she have wormed her way into him so quickly, just… just a month? No, it had been about two, since he'd sent her out, now.

"Are you crying?" The monitor said, almost clear as if they were in the same room.

"… Wish I weren't."

Giovanni watched them move, Keri sitting up, then leaning against the wall they'd pushed the beds into. "You never cry."

"Well, we can't say that anymore, can we? Apparently these things called 'emotions' really get to me. It's annoying."

Keri laughed.

He _smiled_ at her. _Smiled_. He couldn't watch this anymore. "I'm going out, send in Grant and Jen to keep an eye on the cameras." After a couple minutes he got irritated, and suddenly realized that he hadn't actually pressed the button to call them in.

.~.~.~.~.~

Viox sighed again, hands on her hips, glaring at them both. "Look, I'm not here to take you back. As far as Giovanni is concerned, none of us exist anymore. No More Team Rocket For Us."

A nurse who had been passing stopped suddenly, staring into the room. Viox glared at her, "What's _your_ problem?"

The nurse promptly stammered, and walked away faster than before. "Well, that was rude. So you're saying that they just… _fired_ us?"

She rolled her eyes again. "Well, you can go back if you want to, but you're such a spineless blob that they probably wouldn't take you again anyway."

"HEY! That's completely uncalled for! Why would they just randomly decide to let us go anyway?" Kat glared at her.

"Well, for _one_, we're grunts. Even if I'm a high ranking grunt, I'm still a grunt, and grunts don't matter. As long as we keep our mouths shut, then there shouldn't be any problems. For two, I gave him some information he wanted about Andrew Hess. For three, _he's_ a spineless blob they don't need anyway, you're going to limp for the rest of your life, and I don't even want to deal with this mess anymore. Anymore questions before I start ripping heads off?"

"How about, who the hell are you, and, what the hell are you doing here?"

"Oh thank god, someone with half a spine!" She grabbed Michael by the shirt and dragged him out of the hospital, talking the whole time. "My name is Viox, I was part of Team Rocket, now I'm not. I'm here trying to figure out what to do to help your friend, because she's in more trouble than you would be if I tied you up and threw you into a Trapinch pit. Got it?"

They were out on a sidewalk, Michael grabbed her arm and stopped. "Look. I want to help Keri and Silver too. I don't know why the hell you do, but obviously dragging me out of a hospital while talking about Team Rocket isn't going to help us. Now here's my next question. Where is Detective Rain?"

The girl ground her teeth. "The Detective is safe. At least I think he is, I honestly don't know what exactly was going on. He's got some sort of mental connection with his Pokemon, and for some reason it was killing him. I don't figure out how things work, I just observe the facts. Last I heard he ended up in the Pokécenter of Pacifidlog."

"Well, why don't you come to the hotel, get something to eat, and explain it there. Silver bought rooms for a couple nights, but he's obviously not going to be there to stay in one, so you may as well. I also think the woman at the desk in the hospital is calling the police, so it would be a good idea to move."

Viox glared at him, then sighed. "I suppose I'll have to take you up on that offer… You know, You're pretty nice."

Michael scratched the back of his head, a little confused. "Thanks?"

"That's going to get you killed someday."

.~.~.~.~.~

It was impossible, was her first thought.

Her second thought was that she was going to be sick.

She managed to flush the toilet before throwing up.

Of course they had thought to stock the bathroom with _everything_. Of course, this had made her realize something very very important, that she should have realized earlier, probably way before now. Of course, now Silver was coming to ask her what was wrong.

Keri took one look at his face, and was unable to hold back tears. Of course this had to happen. Silver was on the floor faster than she thought possible, arms wrapped around her. "Keri! What's wrong, are you sick again?"

She shook her head, unable to talk. She shouldn't have even considered it, better to be ignorant for the few weeks… she handed the test to Silver.

It took him a second to realize what it meant… it took him a minute to be able to respond enough to drop it on the floor. It took another for him to croak out her name. "Keri…"

That little plus sign was impossible. It was three in the morning, he was dreaming. Had to be… but he knew he wasn't.

He took a couple deep breaths, staring at Keri. "Keri."

She looked at Silver, locking eyes with him. She couldn't talk, she was afraid of what would come out. Silver wrapped his arms around her. "I love you."

He managed to get to his feet, leaning on one of the crutches. He helped Keri stand up. "Silver… I…"

"Shh. Come on, back to bed."

"I'm eighteen…" She'd said every consequence… she hadn't thought… not so soon… She slowly walked over and sat on the bed. Silver grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge, and handed it to her, sitting down right next to her.

Keri sobbed into his shoulder. _… _Maybe it had been an hour when she calmed down enough to speak. "Silver, I love you. I love you so much… What are we going to do?"

"Keri, you have to get out of here."

"I know, but how, what are we going to do?"

He held her head between his hands, carefully looking her in the eyes. "I'll do whatever they want, if it will get you out, because now it's not just you. You will get out of here, go to Fiore or Almia, because the rangers are better equipped to keep Team Rocket out. Orre only has a matter of time."

"What about you!? Silver, I can't just leave you here!?"

"And you can't _stay_ here. I've been escaping from them since I was born, what makes you think I won't be able to get out again?"

"Silver, they'll find a way! If they can't get to me, they'll get to the baby!"

.~.~.~.~.~

Grant spewed his coffee at the screen. 'It's not just you now?' 'The baby?' This was not good.

He grabbed his cell phone, and dialed the number… "Giovanni!?"

"It is five in the morning. There had better be a really good fucking reason for this."

"Keri is pregnant."

XOX

Okay muses. Please never ever let me write something like that again. It was awful. I've had that planned since chapter six, and it was still awful. Raise your hand if you didn't see it coming. (No, seriously, who didn't see it coming?)

Thanks to Wolfstar-Wolfy-Hollyleaf for reviewing Chapters One, Two, Three, and Four.

Thanks to Frozen Cold for reviewing Chapters Four and Ten.

Thanks to xUNGracefulxAssassin for reviewing Chapters Four, Five, and Six.

Thanks to sierrap123 for reviewing Chapters One, Three, Four, Five, Six, Seven, and Ten.

Thanks to RedHerring1290 for reviewing Chapters Five Six, Seven Eight, Nine, Ten, Eleven, Twelve, and Thirteen.

Thanks to kaiyus for reviewing Chapters Seven and Eight.

Thanks to Dodectron for reviewing Chapter Nine.


	15. Chapter 15

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

Giovanni dropped the phone, cussing as it hit the floor, breaking. He could care less about the phone, it would be easy enough to get another. He picked it up, noticing that it was just the screen that had broken. He held it to his ear. "-oss? Boss? Sir?"

"Shut up Grant, I'll be there in a minute."

"Yes Sir."

Giovanni snapped the thing shut, kicking his desk on the way out of the room…

"OF COURSE!" He growled, leaving his house and slamming the door. OF COURSE he'd gotten her PREGNANT. That was just fucking great…

It was great… It was _perfect_… He ground his teeth as the broken phone rang. He picked it up. "What is it now?"

"Uh… Silver wants to see you. He's talking to one of the cameras." Grant, on the other side of the phone, seemed entirely unable to figure out what to do about this.

"Well then have someone tell him to sit the fuck down, I'll be there when I get there. He shouldn't be walking around on that foot anyway." He snapped the phone shut.

"This is going to make things much… easier." The man tried to smile, but found himself with a frown all the way to the base… his wife… He shook the thoughts out of his head.

.~.~.~.~.~

"How do you know that they'll actually let you talk to him?" Keri asked, leaning on his shoulder.

"I'm sure they've been listening in. I said I would do anything they wanted, and I mean it."

"I don't want to leave you." She muttered. She couldn't see any other way out.

"I'll find a way out, I always do."

"They'll kill us."

Silver opened his mouth to say something, then shut it as the door opened. He glared at it, wrapping an arm around Keri. "Nice to meet you, Keri. Hello son."

Silver ground his teeth. "You have no right to call me that."

The two guards came in, guns pointed. Giovanni sighed. "You won't be needed here, just get out and shut the door." He sat down in a chair in front of the desk. "So. I heard the good news."

"I'm sure everyone has by now. What do you want from me?" He glared… Giovanni knew that he wouldn't attack him…

"We can leave that alone for a few minutes, I think. Why don't we start with Keri here?"

She watched him, unsure of how to feel… He looked almost exactly like Silver, but his eyes were brown, his hair the same color and much much shorter. He wasn't as pale, but his eyes, mouth, nose… all the same shape. He wasn't as tall, maybe an inch shorter, his face was a little rounder, Silvers a little thinner… "What about me?"

"Well, first of all, the fact that you're still here, instead of enjoying the sunshine in the Ranger regions. Or snow, I suppose it depends on which you prefer. I've had a feeling for a couple weeks now that you've been leaving things out of your reports. I thought you really wanted to get out of here, it's a shame you had to change your mind."

"YOU WERE GOING TO KILL ME! I worked so hard, when running away would have been a better alternative!" She wanted to hit him. Wished she had her gun on her.

"But that's not why you changed your mind." He smirked as she dug her fingers into the blanket on the bed.

"You're right," she growled. "Until last night he was the only reason for me to stay alive."

"Things change… It wouldn't be hard to change them again…"

Keri backed up into the wall, curling her arms around her knees. "Shut up."

"Of course, it would be even easier to just change them permanently…" The man had a slight smile on his face. Keri glared at him, appalled at what he was implying.

Silver took a deep breath… "Like you changed mom?"

That cut them both. Silver was trembling, teeth grinding together. Giovanni had the outside appearance of calm, but something sparked in his eyes. Silver smirked. "Of course, if I had been obedient, none of it would have happened. If I had joined up with you, nothing would be wrong. She would still be alive. Isn't that right?"

He'd almost forgotten how good the boy was… "It was her choice."

"You offered her the choice. It was dangerous, still in testing. And instead of working, all it did was destroy her immune system! You didn't tell her everything, and you killed her!"

"Are you done?" He was irritated, knew that Silver could draw this out…

"Are you ready to talk to me, instead of playing with Keri?" They were both fuming… Keri couldn't help looking from one to the other, they looked so much alike… almost the same… Either of them could have looked in a mirror and seen the same face. Giovanni was older, a couple lines in his forehead, but you could still see it…

"Fine. Anything I want hmm?"

"You have to let her go."

"That isn't everything, is it?"

"You don't track her, you don't look for her, you leave the baby alone. You don't touch her, you don't contact her." He turned to Keri… "I'll do anything."

"That would make escaping again too easy. How do I guarantee that you stay here?"

"Why do you want him?" Keri suddenly blurted out. It had been bugging her for hours now.

Giovanni raised his eyebrows at her. "It doesn't look good when my son is running around taking out members of my organization left and right. I figured that that much was obvious." He crossed his arms, watching her for a couple seconds as she glared at him. "What on earth could have made you fall in love with him?" He said it at little more than a mutter, a growl.

What had ever made Stella fall in love with him… No! That boy had gotten him thinking about her again! He tried to shove the thoughts to the back of his mind, but it was impossible with him sitting there, the same hair, the same eyes…

Keri almost didn't answer, but it still came out in a whisper. "He kissed me." She bit her bottom lip, wising that she hadn't said it out loud.

Giovanni looked at Silver, surprised. He almost laughed… "YOU kissed HER?!" That wasn't something he'd expected, that…

That Silver had been attached to Keri before she had started to keep things from her reports? He'd been the one to make the decision… "You're just like your mother." he muttered, inaudible.

"Giovanni, let Keri go, I promise that I will do what you want. Anything you want. Just don't kill her." Silver ground his teeth, fingers digging into the mattress… How could he beg to this bastard! After hating him so long, he was going to just lay down-! It was for Keri. Keri has to live.

Giovanni stood up. "I'll consider it." He'd made his decision long before…

Someone was already opening the door, and he walked out.

He was practically begging. It wasn't on his knees, that was something he would never be able to get the boy to do, and he didn't want to, but the words were still there… Anything…

"Fine, anything. We'll play by my rules, and when I don't need him anymore, he can go back to her as long as he keeps his nose out of my business. I've chased him too far to just let him go now… but I can't keep him." He stared out one of the windows near the top of the stairs.

"Sir… you're letting them go?"

"Grant, eventually I'll let you and Jen go too. Love clouds the mind. Eventually you'll both either want out, or you'll both stay in forever. There is no in between."

"We worked so hard to… for months we had people trailing him!"

"I never said I would let him go quickly. He'll earn his way out, like the rest. There's never going to be a way for me to change his mind, so we'll just have to work out something else. I know that you and Jen will never be able to run it, even though you are great apprentices you will eventually want to settle down." Giovanni couldn't help smirking slightly. "Andrew would have worked out great if he had the right head on his shoulders. Eventually I'm going to get too old to do this."

Grant had nothing to say for a few seconds. It was so easy to forget that the man knew everything… "You're probably right."

"I'm usually right. Get his sizes and have them get Silver a uniform. I doubt he'll need the basic training, so put him in level three and give him back his Pokemon."

"Sir…"

"He won't be dangerous, he loves her too much to try anything."

"When did you get a soft spot?"

Giovanni smirked, "I've cared about this organization my whole life, first to put fear into people, and I've managed that, then to work my way into businesses. Eventually I found something else to care about. You couldn't have possibly thought Silver just randomly appeared out of nowhere, could you?"

Giovanni moved ahead, leaving a slightly stunned Grant behind. Keri Fletcher, who would have ever thought it? The Black Arrow… He may have been kind this time, but it was back to business. Silver would start training in the morning, Keri would magically appear knocked out in this towns Pokécenter, and Jack Rain would be there to pick her up and get her out. He'd gotten reports of the man being near… The Detective was a problem to deal with a different day. He would make sure that he found her. Viox would be trying to find Keri, hopefully she was safe somewhere, she had been useful, but Andrew had ruined her future in Team Rocket…

He would track Keri, but he would keep it restrained to a small group. He wouldn't lay a finger on the girl, or the child, but he would keep an eye on them… for Stella… he could care less about the two, but he would keep an eye on them because Stella would have wanted him too…

.~.~.~.~.~

Silver. Her eyes darted open, searching for him, feeling for him, she began to panic… "Silver!?"

"Relax… Keri, they found you knocked out here."

Her vision cleared a little, she could see… Detective Rain!… "Where am I? Where is Silver?"

"Keri, calm down."

There had been no warning… she had just gone to sleep, he had been right there! Right there, right next to her! She took a couple deep breaths… A nurse walked in. "Good, you're awake."

Keri just stared at her, it felt like someone had hit her in the head with a hammer, her mouth felt dry… "What's going on?"

"We found you outside the door, passed out. There was nothing wrong with you though. Since you're awake, you could probably leave with your uncle here."

Uncle? What on earth…? "Uh… Okay…"

They left so that she could get dressed, she was mostly quiet as they signed her out. The nurse didn't bother with one of the Pokécenters wheel chairs, because they were all being used. Keri walked out into the Main lobby, looking around a little confused… Silver…

Suddenly she was bombarded with questions… Michael was there, the Detective… What was going on? Where was she… Her backpack! She grabbed it and ran outside, digging through it… she hadn't gotten to… She had all new supplies…

She threw out the Pokéball and hugged the Pokemon as it appeared, sobbing into its fur… The Slackoth was confused… The girl was so full of pain…

Viox stood back a ways, by the Pokécenter door. Michael walked out, and began walking towards Keri, worry on his face… The detective grabbed his shoulder, shaking his head.

She hadn't even gotten to say goodbye…

.~.~.~.~.~

"Ariel Ace."

Silver frowned at his opponent as their Ninjask collapsed to the ground. "You have speed, but you're lacking good attack and your Pokemon is horrible at blocking special attacks. Confusing your opponent doesn't work every time, one good hit, and you were down."

The boy across from him on the field glared, returning his Pokemon. He threw out another Pokéball, an Umbreaon appearing. "Quick attack!"

The Pokemon ran, disappearing for a second, then "Poison fang!" found itself in the bats jaws, squealing as it hit the ground in front of the Rocket. "You learned my set of attacks last time, why are you bothering with tricks like that?"

The boy was too busy yelling… he aimed a kick…

Silvers knife slashed though his leg, not deep… "The next one will hit your throat."

The boy backed away as his Pokemon stood up, confused.. "umbre?" Silver stared at the boy, eyes locked, it took only a couple seconds for his opponent to turn and run, limping, away, leaving the Pokemon standing in the field. Silver walked over on his crutches and picked up the Pokéball.

"You've been through a lot, haven't you?" The Pokemon backed away a little, mewling slightly. Crobat landed on Silvers outstretched arm, hanging upside down and folding its wings.

The Umbreon came a little closer, Silvers hand out for her to sniff. "It's okay, so have I."

It looked up at him, maybe the slightest glimmer of trust passed through its eyes… Silver returned it to the Pokéball. Purple eyes instead of the usual red.

He'd woken up alone.

He hadn't even gotten the chance to say goodbye.

XOX

So… yep. Almost done, one more piece to put up… I actually went through and edited this chapter five times… Giovanni… is… something. I'm not entirely sure what though. His personality is hard for me to write. Or create rather. You don't exactly get a lot from him in the games.

Thanks to Wolfstar-Wolfy-Hollyleaf for reviewing Chapters One, Two, Three, and Four.

Thanks to Frozen Cold for reviewing Chapters Four and Ten.

Thanks to xUNGracefulxAssassin for reviewing Chapters Four, Five, and Six.

Thanks to sierrap123 for reviewing Chapters One, Three, Four, Five, Six, Seven, and Ten.

Thanks to RedHerring1290 for reviewing Chapters Five, Six, Seven, Eight, Nine, Ten, Eleven, Twelve, Thirteen, and Fourteen.

Thanks to kaiyus for reviewing Chapters Seven and Eight.

Thanks to Dodectron for reviewing Chapter Nine.

Thanks to FumieZ for reviewing Chapter Fourteen.


	16. Epilogue

EPILOGUE

"Sterling! Come back here!"

"Mamma! I want to see the rangers! Come on!!" The little girl jumped up and down, pointing at the stage. Her mother laughed, picking her up.

"You can't just run off like that, it's dangerous. Now hold my hand, I promise that we'll see them." She set her back on the ground… she was getting so big, and folded her hand around hers.

"Mom, why do Pokemon rangers exist? Couldn't trainers like you and Daddy have caught the bad Pokemon?"

"Sterling, there is no such thing as a bad Pokemon. It all depends on how they've been treated. If you treat a Pokemon badly, then it will do bad things."

"Okay mommy… aren't there bad trainers though? Annie next door says that we should watch out for people in black, because they're the bad trainers." Sterling made a face.

Keri stopped and knelt down, making sure to look her in the eyes. "Promise me that you will never believe that. I used to wear black all the time, Sterling. It's not about the color that someone is wearing, it's about who they are on the inside. People are bad because of the choices they make, not because of what they wear. Do you understand?"

The little girl nodded… Mommy wasn't bad. "Mommy, why do people make bad choices?"

"You're full of questions today, aren't you? Come on, hop on my back." Sterling giggled, and climbed onto her mothers shoulders.

"Emily at school says that she and her mommy met someone in black yesterday, she says the he was scary… but maybe he wasn't scary."

"He probably wasn't, look, there's the stage!"

Sterling grinned. "We're going to get to meet the rangers! Are they going to tell how they got rid of the bad people? Mommy, the teacher at school says that it took seven years to make them go away, and since I'm Five that means…" she thought about it for a second… "That means that they were here for two years before I was here! That's a long time, I can't wait to see them! Someday I'll be a ranger, just like they are, I can be tall and talk to the Pokemon and help people just like they do mommy and…"

Keri laughed. "Take a breath or you're going to use up all the air!"

She lifted her off her shoulders and sat her down on the wooden bleachers that had been assembled for the occasion. "Now, you have to be quiet so that you can hear the rangers talking. Okay?" Keri sat down next to her, petting her hair…

She hadn't even gotten to say goodbye… Keri winced as the pain shot through her chest, making her take in a gasp of air. It was so hard sometimes, Sterling looked so much like him. She had the same silver eyes, that seemed to shine all on their own sometimes, her hair a gorgeous red, maybe a little lighter than his… She was glad that she was focused on the stage, practically bouncing. She had so much energy.

Sterling looked at the rangers, they were all so happy and excited! There was a boy with brown hair who was getting a medal… She turned in her seat, looking around at the other people… smoke? There was a little bit of smoke out there… that meant fire…

She looked around, her mommy was looking away… she slid down the bleachers. She could go and put out the fire, just like the rangers always did. Everything seemed different from down here… there it was, that little bit of smoke. It wasn't allowed to have fires in the woods.

It took her just a few seconds to disappear into the woods…

Keri turned back to her, opening her mouth to say something, her heart nearly stopping as she saw the empty seat next to her. She rushed down the bleachers, she had only looked away for a second, "STERLING!"

She ran outside the bleachers, looking around, panic ripping through her… "STERLING!"

She felt a hand on her shoulder, looking over to see the worried face of a ranger… "What's going on?"

"I don't know what happened, she was sitting there next to me and now she's gone!" She looked around… She couldn't let panic take control… deep breaths. Sterling couldn't have gone that far, but she could have disappeared. She was always getting into something. Keri scanned the crowd, then the trees… smoke.

Sterling looked around at the trees, she could still make out that little curl of smoke. She soon found the source, a fire that was being put out by a man. She walked forward, hands on her hips, eyes gleaming in a dangerous way. "Setting fires here isn't allowed!"

The man jumped, turning around… he almost laughed, then frowned… "Are you here to arrest me?"

Sterling's confidence fell for a second. The man had on a black suit, with a big R on it… she ground her teeth… "I'm going to make you stay here until the rangers come!"

The man turned his head suddenly, hearing branches break… "Looks like you did your job then. Your mother is probably worried sick about you… I probably look scary in this suit."

"My mommy says that people are only bad because of what they do… but you're wearing the same thing the bad guys did!" She pointed at the R.

"Your right, I am wearing the same thing… Your mommy is smart, and you had better go back to her, let the rangers take care of me."

"My mommy is the smartest person in the whole world, and she says that I should stand up for what's right, and I'm going to stand here until the rangers get here!" She stomped her foot, glaring at him.

Silver actually laughed, startling himself. Getting away in Almia had been a good move, but laughing about it? He would just disappear into the trees when the rangers got-

"Sterling! Oh god, never do that AGAIN!" Keri grabbed her, pulling her in close, crying. "Never do that again, what if someone had been out here?"

"Mommy, there _is_ someone out here! Look, there he is, he lit a fire in the woods and it's not allowed and he has an R!"

Keri looked up to see the uniform… the breath caught in her throat, they couldn't have found her… the Rocket moved his head, staring at her… eyes… "Silver?"

Her heart kicked up double time… she let go of Sterling…

Shock shot through his brain… Keri… he looked at the little girl… his daughter? He looked back at Keri… He pulled the hat off his head, a slight uncertainty in his eyes… "Keri, I'm s-" She shoved him against a tree, he had barely seen her move… Her arms wrapped around him, mouth pressed against his, he broke the kiss and held her, her head leaning on his shoulder, crying… His back slid down the tree, kneeling on the ground, holding her. "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry Keri, I love you, I'm sorry…"

"What are you apologizing for you idiot?!" She kissed him again, wrapping her fingers in his hair, breathing in, "God I missed you so much…"

"Mommy, why are you crying…?" Keri took a deep breath, and let go of Silver, standing up and picking up Sterling…

A ranger appeared in the trees, then two others… "You found her… oh no, there's another one. We've been finding members of Team Rocket hiding out in all sorts of places, is your daughter okay?"

Silver stood up, watching the rangers. He glanced at Keri, frowning.

"She's fine, Sterling is fine…"

"Good… Sir, we're going to have to arrest you." The ranger was watching him carefully…

"Well this… Is unfortunate." He almost laughed again.

The ranger blinked, then looked at him confused. "What?"

"I could probably get away from you easily, but I would rather not leave Keri again… I finally get away, they can't find me now, and wouldn't try…" He let the sentence drop, just staring at her… she was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen, her face was the same shape as Keri's, her eyes shone with slight confusion… how had he not seen it before? She had his eyes… the same hair… "She's so beautiful…" He whispered. And she was strong, standing there with that look on her face before! The defiance, she'd stood there like she was the grown up… for a second it terrified him, if it had been someone else…

Keri backed up, blocking most of him from the rangers sight. "No… Not again…"

"Mommy, what's going on?"

The ranger was surprised… "Mam…" he couldn't think of what to say, if this woman wanted to protect him… what did that make her? Or them?

"He saved my life. He was hunted down by Team Rocket, and he told them that he would do anything if they let me go…" She held on tighter to Sterling… "He's not one of the bad guys…"

She put Sterling on her back, grabbing Silvers hand. The rangers looked at each other… "Well… I suppose that we could leave, then…" The other rangers nodded slightly, backing away some… "Just make sure that the fire is all the way out, and don't do it again… and don't go through town wearing that."

They turned and left. The ranger smiled to himself… it had been the right thing to do… he hoped… No, he knew it was right, even if it was strange, it was the right thing to do.

"Mommy?" Sterling tugged on the back of her shirt… Silver picked her up off Keri's back…

Keri turned around, he was holding her, they were just looking at each other… "Silver, this is Sterling… Sterling…" she paused to swallow… "This is your father."

XOX

If we shadows have offended,  
Think but this and all is mended,  
That you have but slumbered here,  
While these visions did appear,  
And this weak and idle theme,  
No more yielding but a dream.

_~William Shakespeare, a Midsummer's Night Dream._

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS:

(_Please Read_)

First is everyone who has read this story, everyone who gave it a hit, everyone who took the time out of their day to read this. Without you, I wouldn't have felt so compelled to write. There have been over seven hundred (and counting) visitors to this story, and over Two Thousand (And counting) hits. Thank you to every single one of you, weather you began reading when I started the story, or started while I was writing the end, each one of you helped me make it happen.

Second I would like to point out everyone who reviewed, your encouragement really made this worth writing, thank you to:  
Frozen Cold  
xUNGracefulxAssassin  
sierrap123  
kaiyus  
Dodectron  
FumieZ

Thank you to Wolfstar-Wolfy-Hollyleaf for writing those very first reviews.

Thank you to RedHerring1290 for all of those reviews, but especially for being my Pen Pal.

Thank you to Serebii and all of the staff there, those maps are a life saver.

The website Behind The Name, for existing. I would still be trying to figure out a name for their daughter if it didn't. (behindthename)(.)(com) for anyone interested.

There are four songs I listened to almost constantly while writing this, and it wouldn't feel right to leave them out. The band will be named first, then the song.  
_Lifehouse- Hanging by a Moment  
__The Fray- You Found Me  
__The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus- Your Guardian Angel  
__Hobastank- The Reason_

The Sequel will be started April first, it's going to be called Silver Star, taking place, as far as I know, in the Ranger regions Almia and Fiore. There may be mention of the new ranger region, Oblivia, but since little is currently known about it, I'll leave it alone.


End file.
